GFU Tuition Freeze — The Crescent

Reported by: Aurora Biggers

Illustration by: Carla Cieza

NEWBERG, Ore. — On Dec. 2 George Fox University (GFU) announced a tuition freeze for full time undergraduate students. This freeze will take effect for the 2021-22 academic school year, capping tuition at $37,840.

In the fall, Vicki Piersall, the chief financial officer for GFU; Lindsay Knox, vice president for enrollment and marketing at GFU; and President Baker began tuition discussions. Knox noted that COVID-19 and the financial impact the pandemic has had on students led them to consider a tuition freeze. While other financial relief options were discussed, a tuition freeze was really the only contender. Knox said this was the simplest option to put into action, “And given the complexity of the season, it felt like if we were going to do something this was the option, at least for now.”

Once the three made their decision, the idea was taken to the university’s finance committee, board of trustees, and CFO. These parties meet annually to adopt a tuition price, the final number students receive in their financial package each year, alongside an email from President Baker explaining the decision to lower or raise the tuition price. Knox said she “wasn’t in the room where it happened,” but the result of those meetings was the decision to enact a freeze, an unprecedented act in George Fox University history, or at least for the past 40 years; university tuition records only accurately date back to the 80s.

Then, during finals week of fall semester, the university announced the freeze. Many students were confused by the wording of the announcement. According to Knox, the tuition freeze simply maintains the cost of tuition from the prior academic year.

Although universities are free to adjust tuition from year to year, tuition at GFU will remain the same from the 2020-21 school year through the 2021-22 school year. Knox confirmed that tuition would have increased without the freeze due to inflation, though she was unable to confirm the exact figure of the raise.

Students also expressed concern over how the university would consume the financial loss from the freeze, worrying they would see a significant increase in other areas to compensate for the loss. However, Knox ensures students this isn’t the case, “We aren’t raising it somewhere else like a bait and switch.” At this time, she said, the university isn’t engaged in any formal conversations about how to “make up” the cost from the freeze. “We will do what we always do,” Knox said, “We’ll get to the fall coordinating meetings with a recommendation [for tuition] that’s as fiscally responsible to the university and our students as possible, and our board will hold us in check to doing what we promise to do, which is to make decisions using the mantra of ‘students first.’”

The tuition freeze does not mean that other charges won’t fluctuate though. Fees like room and board have not been set yet, according to Knox. She also denied rumors that any staff or faculty would suffer reduced salaries or position cuts to compensate. The Crescent contacted Piersall, chief financial officer for GFU, to ask whether the freeze had any effect on the recent program and faculty cuts, but she was unavailable for comment.

Another reason Knox, Piersall, and Baker favored a tuition freeze is because it’s a boon for re-enrollment. The freeze doesn’t benefit students graduating this spring, 2021, as they aren’t a part of the key re-enrollment demographic; it “best benefits students who continue next year,” Knox said. And this was a strategic factor in choosing the tuition freeze. “It was made for continuing students,” Knox said, “We wanted to create something certain in a time that is uncertain.”

Recalling the “enrollment melt” at University of Portland, which made GFU the largest private university in Oregon, Knox said it was vital for GFU to incentivize students to re-enroll. The best way to do this was to make tuition more certain for the next year, which is also why the freeze was announced prior to spring semester, when students are prompted to re-enroll. Usually tuition isn’t announced until the end of January or beginning of February, ahead of registration in March.

Besides the initial confusion surrounding the freeze, “We could have done a better job of talking through the details … that’s something I would do better next time. We assumed that the words were more self-explanatory than they were,” Knox said the response from students and parents was overwhelmingly positive. “Once we got over the nuts and bolts, it was really lovely to see people feel blessed, to understand that there would be sacrifices made by the university, and [to see] that was appreciated.”

As students re-enroll for the fall semester and begin to plan for the 2022-23 school year, they may wonder, “will the freeze be extended as long as the pandemic continues?” Knox doesn’t have an answer for that yet (though it’s unlikely), and students will probably have to wait until next fall when tuition price discussions start over again, but she says it’s “not out of the question.”