Students attending the University of Wisconsin who accumulate more than 165 credits will be charged a surcharge equivalent to 100 percent of in-state tuition.

That means for a student attending UW, where a credit costs $160, additional credits will come at a cost of $320.

A report released from UW administrators detailed how the university cut the number of students with over 165 credits by over half, from 3,300 in 1994-95 to about 1,900 students in 2001-02.

The move comes at a time when the UW System is faced with more cuts in state funding.

The Board of Regents approved the move Thursday to help offset the expected budget cuts from the state Legislature.

However, not all regents displayed approval towards the move.

Instead of a magic number of 165 credits, some regents called for a sliding scale where the surcharge increased as a student inched closer to 165 credits.

“There are a large number of different things that could be done, but the costs of trying to develop a system that is equitable to students and still manageable for the institutions is a great question,” said Frank Golberg, associate vice president for policy analysis and research.

The 165-credit rule is not set in stone.

The regents gave UW campuses the flexibility to provide exceptions to the policy. Also, students transferring into the UW System will not have their previous school’s credits factored into the 165.

Regent Patrick Boyle questioned the maximum rule, saying it could hurt students who only want to learn more.

“We don’t know how many of those students have legitimate reasons and are taking, for example, advanced seminar(s) where there are 15 or 17 kids in there and half a dozen empty chairs and they can go in there and benefit from the additional coursework,” Boyle said. “Those students are not filling anyone else’s spots.”

Regent Jonathan Barry offered a more aggressive plan where UW campuses would seek out only highly motivated individuals with the hopes that these students would graduate earlier and with fewer credits.

“In the admissions area is there a way for us to select in the incoming class those students that require fewer resources and that would have better retention and graduation rates and use up less credits,” Barry said.

Despite some opposition to the surcharge, Regent James Klauser suggested it would ultimately benefit UW students.

“If we don’t do something like this, we are paralyzing other students. We are reducing taxpayer support for them. How far will a taxpayer support a student?” he said.

The surcharge was originally part of Gov. Scott McCallum’s budget-repair bill.

The rest of Thursday’s meeting detailed the financial crunch that most of the UW campuses are facing.

UW-Stevens Point Chancellor Tom George said his campus was particularly hard-hit and that the campus may have to do everything from cutting enrollment to closing entire dormitories.

The University of Wisconsin is not unique in its budget problems. All of the other 10 Big Ten institutions are facing tuition increases and resource cuts.

At other Big Ten institutions, a plethora of methods have been undertaken to address dwindling budgets. Such methods include cutting faculty, increasing student dormitory fees, cutting library funds, and capping enrollments.

At the end of the meeting, a number of regents expressed discontent over the day’s events.

“I have a knot in my stomach,” Regent Fred Mohs said. “We’re getting the message that we’ve cut quality.”