The St. Mary’s College Board of Trustees at a May 10 meeting held tuition and mandatory fees flat for the fifth consecutive year, while approving a modest increase in room and board rates for the 2024-25 school year.
“Despite the uncertainty in fall enrollments nationwide caused by the flawed rollout of the revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by the Department of Education, overall the College is in a very good position financially,” St. Mary’s College of Maryland President Tuajuanda Jordan said.
Also at Friday’s meeting, Jordan announced she would be retiring next year.
“Fortunately, the long-term tuition strategy we put in place several years ago allows us to continue to hold the line on tuition increases,” she said.
All 11 of the college’s peer institutions raised tuition and mandatory fees last year by an average of 3.3%. In absolute terms, St. Mary’s charges lower tuition than it did in the 2013-2014 academic year — a difference magnified significantly by inflation over that period of more than 30%, according to a release from the college.
The board-approved increase of 3.9% for room and board reflects the increased costs of goods and services as well as an increase in the Maryland minimum wage.
The meeting was led for the final time by outgoing Chair Susan L. Dyer, who completed the maximum three-year term. A commercial real estate developer and managing partner in a restaurant in Leonardtown, Dyer has more than 30 years of experience as a recognized leader and expert in information technology strategy, design, development and delivery of large-scale business and scientific systems.
“It has been my absolute pleasure to serve as chair of this outstanding board of trustees and our equally amazing faculty and exceptional staff,” Dyer said. “Under the tremendous vision and leadership of President Jordan, we have consistently focused on determining the best outcomes for our students, which truly reflects the heart of this institution.”
Under Dyer’s leadership, the trustees oversaw significant positive changes, including maintaining the aforementioned tuition freeze and long-range tuition strategy, the approval of new academic majors, the approval of the three-year Rising Tide strategic plan and an upgrade of the college’s credit rating, according to the release.
Dyer will be replaced as chair by John Bell, a 1995 graduate of St. Mary’s College who is the managing director of Wells Fargo Corporate & Investment Bank. Bell is the first alumnus to chair the board of trustees.
The board was informed by Jordan of her decision to retire in June 2025, and of the transition of the college’s Taking the LEAD fundraising campaign to a How High Can We Fly phase for its final year after eclipsing its initial goal of $20 million a year ahead of schedule.
“Ten years ago, I said ‘now is the time’—the time to become a model of what higher education can achieve, the time for us — the invisible — to become visible,” Jordan, who as appointed president of the college in 2014, said. “I am immensely proud of our shared accomplishments including the increasing diversity of our student body, steady enrollment growth, curricular and co-curricular innovations, the focus on an expanding campus culture where everyone can thrive, and deeper partnerships with the broader community.”
The board also approved the 2024-2025 meeting calendar, the awarding of degrees to the Class of 2024, a new attendance policy, diversity report, state capital budget proposal and its authority and responsibility matrix.
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