Mercer University’s Board of Trustees, meeting today on the Cecil B. Day Campus in Atlanta, adopted a record $244 million operating budget for 2017-18 and approved several new academic programs.
 
Continuing six consecutive years of below-market tuition increases, trustees voted to limit the tuition increase for Macon undergraduate programs to 2.5 percent for 2017-18. President William D. Underwood noted that the University’s disciplined approach to holding down costs for students and their families, coupled with the national achievements of its students and faculty, contributed to U.S. News & World Report last year ranking Mercer among the 25 best values among national universities.
 
There will be no tuition increase for Mercer law students and M.D. students in the School of Medicine. Most other programs across the University will see tuition increases in the 2- to 4-percent range.
 
Trustees approved a new management major in the Stetson School of Business and Economics; a new civil engineering concentration and a graduate certificate in technical communication in the School of Engineering; a graduate certificate in health informatics in Penfield College; graduate certificates in theological studies and social enterprise in McAfee School of Theology; and a graduate certificate in integrated behavioral health and medical family therapy in the School of Medicine.
 
The Board heard reports on recent success in commercializing discoveries taking place in Mercer laboratories; on a remarkable year of student achievement that included, among an array of other achievements, three students winning Fulbright awards, two students being named Goldwater Scholars and four students being named Woodrow Wilson Fellows; on research initiatives designed to engage and inspire undergraduate students; and on progress toward completion of the new Spearman C. Godsey Science Center on the Macon campus.