Cornerstone University’s new meal plans and dormitory options give residential students an opportunity to pay even less than the anticipated new $27,030 average cost that takes effect in fall 2009, even though flex dollars will be eliminated.

Nancy Schoonmaker, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said residential students will choose from among plans that offer seven, 10, 12, 15 or 18 meals per week. However, the seven-meal plan is an option for senior students only.

For each meal plan, different room and board prices will be offered to students depending on where they choose to live next year. The room is the location of residence – in a dormitory or apartment-style dorms – and board refers to the choice of meal plan.

The total cost for attending the university consists of room and board, plus tuition and fees. Tuition and fees next year totals $20,520 for residential and $20,670 for commuter students. The $150 difference between the two tuition/fees rates is due to the creation of a $250 commuter student life fee and a $100 residence life fee for residential students, starting next year. (See related Page 1 story for more details on these new fees.)

If a student lives in Pickitt, Keithley, Cook or Van Osdel dormitories and chooses the 10-meal plan, room and board costs $2,812 per semester, said Stephen Popp, director of financial analysis.

The student’s full year cost in this scenario would be $26,144, a 0.4 percent increase from last year’s $26,030. But it would also be a 3.3 percent decrease from the previously announced $27,030 average price tag for next school year, Popp said in an e-mail.

Also, if a student chooses the same 10-meal plan, but lives in a Babcock or Crawford apartment-style dorm, room and board would cost $3,212 per semester, with the full year cost at $26,944 or a 3.5% increase from last year’s total, but a 0.3 percent decrease from the $27,030 projected average cost for 2009-10, Popp said.

Schoonmaker said dormitories and apartment-style dorms will be priced differently because of square footage. Apartment-style dorm rooms are larger and have more amenities than traditional dorm rooms.

“Our goal is that [the changes] would provide more choice to students and still provide a model that is sustainable from a financial perspective,” Schoonmaker said.

Cindy Wiltheiss, director of food services, said that many students have continually asked for more choices.

“These changes were initiated because we heard that students want to pay for what they use, now they can do that,” Schoonmaker said.

For the flex dollars, she said they had to go in order to keep CU’s budget balanced. “If we introduce choice in this manner (within the new meal plans), we cannot do the flex also,” Schoonmaker said.

Flex dollars were originally created to give students choices, she said, adding, “The flex dollars were only feasible when everyone was on the standard (meal) plan.”

As a result, students will now have to use their own cash when purchasing coffee or food items at the Coffee Grounds. CU is also trying to install a credit/debit card machine for next fall, she said.

Schoonmaker said that senior students will be able to be pay less than last year’s $26,030 cost to attend Cornerstone if they select the seven-meal plan and live on campus in a dormitory. The room and board total of $2,534 for each semester plus the cost of tuition and fees would bring the total cost next year down to $25,588 or a 1.7 percent decrease compared to last year’s $26,030 and a 5.3 percent decrease from next year’s $27,030 average cost, Popp said.

“Currently, we have an option for seniors in our current room and board model only, and we were just trying to maintain a unique option in this plan for seniors,” Schoonmaker said.

Shoonmaker told The Herald that the 3.8 percent increase in the overall cost of attending Cornerstone previously announced to students was based upon a student choosing a dorm room with the 15 meals per week plan.

“Fifteen was chosen because it seemed like an average that many students would choose,” she said.

If a student chooses to live in an apartment with the 15 meal plan, total year cost would be more than the 3.8 percent anticipated average cost hike. It would also cost more with the 18-meal plan, no matter the choice of residency.

For the 12 meals per week plan, tuition would be less than $27,030 or more, depending on residency. If a student lives in a dorm, it would cost $26,504. If a student lives in an apartment, it would cost $27,304, Popp said.

“The students are now in control of their meal plan,” said Wiltheiss.

For more details on specific meal plans, residency options check out posting on CUBE.