UW-Madison proposes major tuition hike for engineering majors
(Published Thursday, March 22, 2007 10:28:40 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Ryan J. Foley Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - University of Wisconsin-Madison wants engineering students to pay $1,400 more in tuition per year under a plan that would make the popular major more expensive to study than all others.
The state's flagship university has long charged higher tuition for students seeking professional degrees in areas such as law, medicine and pharmacy.
But the plans to increase College of Engineering tuition by $700 per semester - and a similar plan for business majors - marks the first time the university has tried to impose so-called differential tuition on undergraduates.
The increase would be phased in over three years. Starting next fall, engineering students would pay $600 more per year than other undergraduates. The difference would increase by $400 in each of the next two school years.
The plan has sparked intense debate among students, with some calling the increase too high and others saying it's needed to maintain quality.
"I can't afford an extra $700 a semester. This isn't something I was planning on," said Andrew Severance, a student leader who is fighting the increase. "I think it's very unfair to go over the top of university tuition and tack on extra money just because we have a major in engineering."
The engineering plan is expected to be considered by the Board of Regents, the governing body of the UW System, next month. The higher rate would apply to students once they are accepted into the college, typically their last two or three years.
A similar plan expected to be considered by the regents this summer would increase tuition for UW-Madison business majors by $500 per semester starting next fall.
Engineering Dean Paul Peercy said his college's increase would eventually raise $3 million per year to hire faculty, update curriculum and improve research opportunities and student services.
Peercy said every other Big Ten engineering college has a similar tuition structure and UW-Madison has long considered following suit. Engineering costs more than other programs because of the need to keep up with technological advances, he said.
"We held off as long as we could in doing this," he said. "We understand this is a significant increase ... but we're committed to maintaining the quality of the engineering undergraduate education that we have."
The college had about 3,200 undergraduate students last fall, according to its annual report. Its two most popular majors are mechanical engineering and electrical and computer engineering.
The money would help replace half of the faculty members who have retired or left in recent years, Peercy said. Their positions were left vacant because of budget constraints, he said.
The college would aim to add faculty for high-demand courses that often fill up, forcing students who can't get in to delay their graduation.
"We're going to relieve some of those bottlenecks," Peercy said.
Nearly all students initially opposed the increase, but some changed their minds after learning about the benefits, said junior Craig MacKenzie, who chairs a committee charged with informing students about the plan.
MacKenzie, a 20-year-old civil engineering major, said his own graduation may be delayed because a class he needed was canceled and others filled up before he could get in. But he said students in other engineering programs do not face delays "and that's what might make it controversial."
Nicole Rybeck, a junior industrial engineering major, said the university has made convincing arguments for the hike.
"No one wants to pay a lot more for their education, but I think it will lead to some improvements," she said. "It's the value of our UW-Madison engineering degree that is at stake."
Rybeck, 20, said she would have no problem coming up with the extra money but she hopes the university can find ways to cushion the blow for low-income students.
Peercy promised to raise private money to increase need-based student aid so that "this increase in tuition will not disenfranchise any student who wants to major in engineering."
