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                Auburn University - University Relations
                            (334) 844-9999
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8/18/95                                   Pete Pepinsky 
(pepinpr@mail.auburn.edu)

AU TIGHTENS RESIDENCY RULES FOR OUT-OF-STATE STUDENTS

      AUBURN -- Auburn University trustees on Friday tightened 
residency standards for out-of-state students in a move designed to 
reduce the number of
students who claim Alabama residency for lower tuition.
      Beginning in June 1996, students admitted to the university from other
states "will have to demonstrate that they have abandoned domicile 
elsewhere" before they can apply for in-state tuition, says Gerald 
Leischuck, executive assistant to the president.
      Among the other qualifications for in-state tuition, which costs 
one-third the out-of-state rate:
      -- Students will have to be at least 19 years old;
      -- They must demonstrate financial independence (including the 
filing of
Alabama income tax returns); and
      -- They must have lived in the state at least one year.
      As of this fall quarter, Auburn's tuition for Alabama residents 
is $750 per
quarter. Out-of-state residents will pay $2,250 per quarter.
       For the second consecutive year, Auburn has been designated a 
"National Flagship University" in the 1995-96 The Guide to 101 of the 
Best Values in America's Colleges and Universities.  Only 34 other 
institutions -- no others in Alabama -- received that designation.
      Trustee Jack Venable of Tallassee said the board tightened the 
residency requirements because tuition covers only about one-third of a 
student's instructional cost. The remaining two-thirds come from state 
appropriations and other sources. More than two-thirds of Auburn's 8,000 
out-of-state students
currently claim Alabama residency status and pay in-state tuition after
the freshman year.
      "Auburn is a very attractive institution, both within and outside 
Alabama," AU President William V.  Muse said. "The mix of in-state and 
out-of-state students is very important. As a state-supported 
institution, students from outside our state should bear the major cost 
of their education. It should not be subsidized by the people of Alabama."
      In other action Friday, the Board of Trustees:
      -- Approved guidelines for a 1995-95 university budget that must 
accommodate a 7.82 percent reduction in state appropriations to higher 
education. Vice President for Business and Finance Don Large told 
trustees that a hiring freeze since mid-February plus a retirement 
incentive program that had 220 takers are projected to have net 
reductions of 5 percent in academic programs and 10 percent in 
administrative areas.
      -- Endorsed a project budget of $865,000 which will come from private
gifts to build a raptor rehabilitation center at the College of 
Veterinary Medicine. Dean Tom Vaughan described the vet school's 
23-year-old facility for birds of prey "an embarrassment that was never 
meant to be more than temporary." A donor has pledged $314,300 of the 
project cost and agreed to help raise the remainder.
      -- Authorized the university to seek bids for the sale of 1,969 
acres of experimental forest lands owned by the university in Autauga, 
Coosa, Fayette and Barbour counties. Trustees previously established a 
$15 million project budget for a School of Forestry complex on campus. A 
private donor has agreed to provide $7.5 million toward that complex 
provided Auburn can secure matching funds. The sale of the four parcels 
is projected to generate several million dollars, Provost Paul Parks said.
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