PITT'S BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPROVES FY99 BUDGET

PITTSBURGH, June 25 -- The University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees today approved the University's fiscal year 1999 budget. Included in the $865.1 million budget is a 4 percent tuition increase for in-state and out-of-state students. The increase, which is the lowest percentage tuition increase in 10 years, will bring the tuition for Pennsylvania full-time undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences to $5,884 per year. Tuition for out-of-state students will be $12,918 per year.

Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg noted that the lower than usual tuition increase reflected "one of the tangible benefits" of the partnership between the University and the Commonwealth. "Our commitment to cost effectiveness and efficiency, and to bringing about broader scale changes in our funding sources, coupled with the increased levels of Commonwealth support have enabled us to keep our tuition increase to a minimum while still allowing us to invest rather heavily in student life enhancements and academic program initiatives," Nordenberg said.

The budget includes a total Commonwealth appropriation of $158.2 million, a 3.25 percent increase over last year. Also included in the budget is a 3 percent salary increase pool and a 7.5 percent increase in fringe benefit costs, the bulk of which is attributable to the increased cost of medical insurance coverage.

The Board of Trustees also approved a $55.3 million capital budget for FY99. Included in the budget are funds for the construction of new student housing on the Oakland campus, design funds for the planned Convocation Center, and funds for the University's ongoing renovation and modernization of its classroom facilities.

In other actions, the Board:

• elected Arthur S. Levine, M.D. senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. Levine is currently the scientific director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. His appointment is effective November 1, 1998. As senior vice chancellor and dean, Levine will be responsible for academic oversight of the six schools of the health sciences at Pitt, as well as having direct fiscal control for the School of Medicine.

• approved an $18 per semester increase in the security, safety and transportation fee. This increase, which brings the fee to $55 per semester, will allow Pitt students to ride any Port Authority Transit route in Allegheny County by showing their Pitt ID card.

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6/25/98/mgc