The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents' Business, Finance and Audit Committee reconvened Thursday to discuss resolutions to lower nonresident student tuition and to adjust UW executive salaries.
The resolutions were drafted to allow UW to compete with other universities for students and executives alike, and are expected to be voted on by the full board today.
The nonresident student tuition decrease — passed in a 5-1 vote — is expected to take effect at every UW campus except UW-Madison for the 2006-07 school year. Madison out-of-state students will not benefit from the tuition decrease since the university is able to sufficiently attract out-of-state students.
According to UW System assistant vice president for budget and planning Freda Harris, the move would effectively draw in out-of-state funding to help subsidize costs for in-state students.
In-state enrollment would not decrease, Harris noted, as the increased pool of out-of-state students would theoretically allow for an increased number of Wisconsin freshmen.
"It's a win-win situation for the UW System, for the state and students," Harris said. "This is a strategy that is a way to increase access for students at no cost to the state."
The tuition decrease comes after calls from chancellors who feel their campuses have been priced out of competition with other comparable institutions.
UW-La Crosse Chancellor Douglas Hastad said his university has experienced a "precipitous drop" in its competition with other universities, and lauded the regents' vote.
"I think we really would view this as a positive on our campus because it would let us get into the market … we once were in," Hastad said. "We've been priced out of the market [and] we need to have the opportunity to get back into that market."
Most chancellors viewed the tuition decrease as an effective tool to give their campuses the necessary flexibility to compete with other Midwest schools.
"The truth is, if we continue to lose money for every student we enroll [in-state] — this is going to lead us in the [wrong] direction," UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago said.
Hastad said the implementation of a tuition decrease would allow UW officials to go back to the bargaining tables with potential UW students.
"With your action today, we'll be able to go back and call [a student] up and say tuition will be much less than you thought it was going to be," Hastad said. "We need a tool, we need arrows in our quiver, we need to look at where we price tuition."
The tuition decrease would cut the average $14,300 tuition rate across the state by roughly $2,000, dropping the tuition rate from approximately four times in-state tuition to three. UW System officials suspect 900 out-of-state students have been lost to rising tuition costs since the 2001-02 academic year.
Business, Finance and Audit members also made the push for setting new salary ranges for top UW executives. With new salary ranges, UW institutions will be able to better compete at the national level for top executives to run their campuses.
The higher salary ranges will also curb the recent trend in the "privatization" of public universities, a fear of many within the UW System.
"There are foundations out there that are increasingly saying these salaries are low," UW System President Kevin Reilly said. "You can argue about whether that's good or bad, [but] there will be more of that pressure and there will be more private money coming in."
However, calls for public support are not only coming from the UW System president. Others, like Royal Credit Union President Charles Grossklaus and Ayres Associates President Pat Quinn have also made the call for competitive salaries as part of guaranteeing the universities maintain an air of "excellence."
In a letter to Reilly, Grossklauss and Quinn, who recently served on the UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Search and Screen Committee, said the UW System must not be hesitant when pursuing high-price and high-priority candidates to fill chancellor positions.
"We cannot afford to be a training ground," Grossklaus and Quinn said in their letter. "There's a sign at the entrance to [UW-Eau Claire] that says 'EXCELLENCE.' It doesn't say 'mediocre' or 'good enough to get by.' It says 'EXCELLENCE.' If we are serious about 'EXCELLENCE,' we must be willing to invest in it."
