Takin’ care of business

by Badger Herald Editorial Board

Wednesday, January 24, 2007 00:00

It seems as though the University of Wisconsin's School of Business has fallen on hard times. With an 8 percent decline in faculty, ever-increasing market salaries for instructors, a growing demand for admissions, and faltering state support, Business School administrators are looking to bring in more money to fix the problem.

That's why they will ask the UW System Board of Regents to approve a plan in March that would charge undergraduate business students more for tuition than other students attending UW.

In a letter to students enrolled in the Business School, Dean Michael Knetter outlined the differential tuition plan, which would cost an additional $500 per semester for students receiving a business degree and an extra $125 each semester for students working toward a business certificate.

While the goal of covering the higher expense of recruiting and maintaining faculty is necessary to preserve the school's high standards and competitiveness, we find other provisions of the plan a questionable use of student money.

With the exception of the University of Minnesota, all other colleges in the Big Ten have instituted differential tuition for their business schools, and indeed, the plan would greatly benefit UW. But the roughly 17 percent increase in in-state tuition is far too steep for already cash-strapped students to shoulder.

Rolled into the proposal are plans to bolster academic and career advising and add a director of admissions and recruiting, two provisions we find unnecessary in this plan, which has been sold as a last-ditch effort to save faculty.

Furthermore, the differential tuition proposal calls for a quarter of the additional monies to be put toward financial aid for low-income students. The concept of robbing both Peter and Paul to pay Paul seems counterintuitive to the plan as a whole; financial aid should continue to be dispensed at the discretion of the state and UW System, not micromanaged by individual schools within UW. By removing this stipulation, the differential tuition would be more affordable for all students.

In order to garner more student input for the plan, the Business School will host several listening sessions to address student questions and concerns, the first of which will take place tomorrow in Grainger Hall from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. We encourage all current and prospective business students to attend a listening session and contribute to the discussion of this plan.

Business School administrators should go back to the drawing board and recalculate a proposal that will ensure students are only getting charged for resources that are absolutely necessary, and we call on the Board of Regents to approve a plan that will meet the immediate needs of the Business School without causing the undue fleecing of students' pocketbooks.