[media-credit name=’SUNDEEP MALLADI/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]University of Wisconsin business undergraduates could face a $500 per semester tuition increase if a new proposal announced in an e-mail to Business School students last week passes. The differential tuition program would also affect students seeking a business certificate, requiring them to pay an additional $150 per semester. The proposal is scheduled to be decided by the UW System Board of Regents in March. According to Mike Knetter, dean of the UW School of Business, the demand for business education worldwide is on the rise and that increase in demand is likewise affecting the faculty available. State financial support has dwindled and the university already relies on private alumni support, leaving the students as a last resort, Knetter added. “There are no new base budget resources to deal with,” he said. “This is the last place we wanted to go, … but we’re out of bullets, and we want to stay competitive.” Revenue collected from the potential tuition hike would in part be set aside to pay for students with financial needs. Knetter said 25 percent of the tuition increase would be earmarked for those students to keep the school affordable. If the regents reject the proposal, the Business School would suffer, Knetter said. He added the number of faculty is down 8 percent from its peak level five years ago and will continue to fall if budgetary concerns aren’t addressed. “We wouldn’t be able to replace some of the faculty because we simply won’t have the budget to do it,” Knetter said. “We might have to cut other activities to make them feasible.” Knetter also said the differential model is already implemented in every other Big Ten school with the exception of the University of Minnesota, where students pay through a unique tuition system. UW-Milwaukee also made the shift recently to charging business students an augmented tuition, he added. University of Illinois spokesperson Tracy McCabe said their state legislation identifies the certain supplemental fees charged to students. “We have a differential for business and engineering,” McCabe said. “Because of state laws, we have to charge the same for entering freshmen, so they lock in and remain at the same rate.” According to Knetter, the UW master’s program already incurs a $1,440 per year differential. UW senior and business student Ashley Muehlbauer said the increase is worth it because the school provides students with a high-quality program. “I think it’s a good idea,” Muehlbauer said. “The cost of education should reflect its value.” Knetter said the school currently has around 1,300 business majors at any time and graduates around 650 students per year. If the proposal passes, Knetter said the program would expand along with the Certificate in Business program, which would likely change from 100 to 200 students. He also said the school will eventually be shifting from a junior-admission system to a sophomore entrance with the hopes of admitting freshmen directly in 2009. According to Ben Bittner, a sophomore who recently applied to the school, the differential is affordable with a quality education. “It’s unfortunate, but the Business School gives you so many opportunities — I like the idea of expanding it and giving more people the opportunity,” he said. “Entering it as a junior, it would only be $2,000 extra for your education.” Another business student, UW senior Tom Schaefer, said the differential system is reasonable because business majors are heavily recruited and have a higher chance of getting a job immediately after graduating. Schaefer said building on the already successful program will be beneficial, but added administrators also need to maintain the competitive nature of entering the Business School. “Getting more resources is good and making sure we stay competitive for the faculty pay scales is important,” he said. “It is a double-edged sword to balance it with letting in who deserves to be there.”
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Tuition may rise at Grainger
January 23, 2007
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