Throughout this year, rumors have spread regularly across campus about potential tuition increases. As of Friday, such rumors are now news as the Board of Trustees approved a 5 percent tuition increase for both resident and nonresident undergraduate students along with a $91 increase in mandatory student fees for the 2014-2015 academic year.
According to a university news release, the tuition increases will add $5 per credit hour for resident undergraduates and $22 per credit hour for nonresident undergraduates. The new resident undergraduate tuition and fees will thus increase from $4,404 to $4,646, still among the lowest in the nation.
All graduate students and professional programs with their own tuition rates on campus will also receive a 5 percent increase in tuition. Professional programs include: the College of Law, the MBA program at the College of Business and, in the College of Health Sciences, the pharmacy and nursing doctoral programs.
Tuition and fees increases will generate additional revenue of $2.5 million.
As the state’s only four-year university, UW has the luxury of strong state government funding and support. However, in the last five years, UW has not received funds designated for raising employees’ salaries. The state legislature, though, has recently appropriated $4.15 million for UW employee salary adjustments for the upcoming fiscal year.
University officials believe there is a need to honor that commitment, so $1 million of the $2.5 million in new revenue will be used for salary adjustments for the upcoming fiscal year.
“No one likes to raise tuition, but this modest increase is necessary to meet the university’s most pressing needs,” UW President Dick McGinity said in the release. “UW continues to enjoy one of the highest levels of state appropriation support among public universities nationwide, but we cannot rely solely on state support.”
UW has fallen behind with paying its employees in accordance to the market and as a result, has lost many faculty and staff to higher paying institutions. $2.5 million of the state’s $4.15 million fund will be used to adjust the salaries of UW employees to more fit the market’s current rates.
The remaining $1.65 million of the state’s fund along with $1 million of the new revenue from tuition increases will be used for merit-based performance pay increases for UW employees.
The remaining $1.5 of new revenue will be allocated toward other university improvements. $570,000 will be used for UW’s new student learning management system. $350,000 will go toward increasing base-level funding for the College of Arts and Sciences, UW’s biggest college. $250,000 will be used for increased library funding. $250,000 will be used for student retention efforts and $80,000 will be used for increasing laboratory operations, equipment and supplies.
ASUW President Brett Kahler reported to the Board of Trustees that the UW student body understood increases in tuition specifically to retain quality staff members. The majority of the new revenue from tuition increases, however, will not go toward increases in UW employee salaries.
Institutional Communications Director Chad Baldwin said all uses of new revenue directly benefit students.
“$1.5 million is going to go to other uses,” Baldwin said. “All of which, however, I think it could be argued directly helps students.”
The specifics of the fees increases are also significant. $25 of the $91 increase in mandatory fees will go toward intercollegiate athletics. Also approved were increased rates for Residence Life and Dining Services: 3.33 percent for residence hall rooms, 3.15 for food plans and 2.5 percent for apartment rent.
