WSU won’t hike 2015-16 tuition
Students at Washington State University won’t see an increase in tuition during the 2015-16 academic year, but the university’s president, Elson Floyd, will receive a 6.9 percent salary increase.
The WSU board of regents OK’d the tuition proposal and Floyd’s raise on Friday during a meeting in Pullman.
Floyd will see his salary, which was last increased in 2008 to $725,000, climb to $775,025. Floyd also has a retention package in the amount of $500,000.
Outgoing Board Chairman Michael C. Worthy, who will be succeeded by T. Ryan Durkin as chairman per the board’s recent election, had high praise for Floyd and the work he has done at the university.
“I’ve been in professional life for some time and I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of performance appraisals and I can tell you that based on the feedback from all the members of this board … the performance of President Floyd throughout his eight years as president, but especially during the 2014-2015 academic year, is the most extraordinary performance by a professional I have ever seen,” Worthy said.
The board also approved a $32 million project at the former Bookie building, located at Northeast Colorado and Thatuna streets. The building, which has been vacant for seven years after the Student Book Corp. moved to a new location, will serve as a student services facility on the Pullman campus. The space will include study and social areas as well as a quick-serve restaurant, a fitness center and recreation spaces inside, while the exterior will include a courtyard, outdoor seating and activity spaces for WSU students.
The board approved a General Revenue Bond Resolution that will authorize the sale of bonds to provide funding for the project. WSU student fees – which students voted to increase by $98 on March 11 – will reimburse the university’s expense at $2.2 million annually with an additional $1.1 million to cover annual operation and maintenance costs for the 88,000-square-foot structure.
Construction is slated to take place from December through January 2017.
Board members also approved construction of a student union building on the WSU Tri-Cities campus.