Students who enter Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business or the College of Engineering next fall or later could see the fees for those programs nearly triple or quadruple, regardless of whether tuition rises. Next month, university officials will show to the Board of Trustees a proposal to raise the business school's annual fee to $5,045 from $1,670, and to hike the engineering fee to $4,660 from $1,180. Trustees will not vote on the proposal until next spring and any fee increases, which would apply only to new students, would not take effect until fall 2017, said Geoff Chatas, chief financial officer for the university.

Students who enter Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business or the College of Engineering next fall or later could see the fees for those programs nearly triple or quadruple, regardless of whether tuition rises.

Next month, university officials will show to the Board of Trustees a proposal to raise the business school's annual fee to $5,045 from $1,670, and to hike the engineering fee to $4,660 from $1,180. Trustees will not vote on the proposal until next spring and any fee increases, which would apply only to new students, would not take effect until fall 2017, said Geoff Chatas, chief financial officer for the university.

The colleges propose spending the revenue from the increases to hire more professors and advisers and to create more "high-impact programs" such as honors options, field experiences, mentorships and new technology.

Both colleges aim to improve their rankings among peer schools, but both are hampered by faculty shortages, according to information trustees are expected to see next month. Fisher College, currently ranked 10th among public business schools nationally, aims to be in the top five within five years.

"We're in a regional and national competition for students," said Executive Vice President and Provost Bruce McPheron, and "one area where we clearly are struggling is student-faculty ratios." Though undergraduate enrollment at the business school has grown by 45 percent in the past 10 years, to 6,627, the number of full-time faculty members has grown by only 28 percent, to 139.

Undergraduate enrollment at the engineering college has increased by nearly 60 percent, but the number of faculty members hasn't changed much.

That leaves the business school with a student-faculty ratio of 47 to 1, the highest among a list of peer schools and those to which OSU aspires. It currently has 600 students for every adviser. The engineering college's student-faculty ratio of 30 to 1 is the highest in the Big Ten, where the average ratio is 18 to 1.

If trustees approve the fee increases, the business school proposes to hire 32 additional professors and five more advisers, improving the student-teacher ratio to 39 to 1 and the student-adviser ratio to 400 to 1. The College of Engineering would hire at least 70 new faculty members, lowering its student-teacher ratio to 24 to 1. New hires would be phased in over several years.

Improving those ratios is key to raising the business and engineering colleges' profiles among competitors, Chatas said, and he will recommend that 95 percent of any fee-increase revenue stay with each college. The fee "wouldn't change just because we can," Chatas said. "It is to serve the immediate needs of the programs."

The proposal factors in discounts for students from needy families. Those with annual household incomes of less than $53,000 would not pay the increase, and those with incomes between $53,000 and $120,000 would pay a discounted amount.

Undergraduate tuition at OSU, including mandatory fees, remains at $10,037 this fall for in-state students and $28,229 for those from out of state. This will be the second year that state lawmakers have imposed a freeze on in-state tuition for state schools.

OSU voluntarily froze in-state tuition for the two years before that, meaning the total hasn't changed since fall 2012. It could change for fall 2017, depending on what legislators decide in state budget discussions next summer.

mcedward@dispatch.com

@MaryMoganEdward