Alec Schaffer
aschaff3@uwyo.edu
With the development of financial crisis across the state, the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees met to discuss budget appropriations. Although the board did not vote, they discussed tuition increases and remedies for budget shortcomings and dwindling revenue sources.
The board asked both the faculty and student senates to provide feed back about the tuition increases.
ASUW passed their first resolution for a recommendation on tuition policy, which stated that the senate only supports a tuition increase of four percent. The proposed resolution is for the fiscal year of 2017.
“Failure to provide increased funding will have significant and detrimental effects on the quality of education experience at UW,” ASUW President Brian Schueler said.
ASUW’s proposed four percent tuition increase breaks down the allocation of the increase into six main categories.
One percent would be allocated to mandatory faculty raises, roughly equating $500,000. Faculty salary support would be allocated 0.75 percent or approximately $375,000. Staff salary support would be allocated 0.75 percent as well. Academic support units, like faculty raises, would be allocated one percent. Libraries would be allocated 0.25 percent, a dollar amount of $125,000 and information technology would be allocated 0.25 percent as well.
ASUW President Brain Schueler said that a poll collected by ASUW initially showed support by 13 percent of students polled, of a four percent tuition increases, with 74 percent opposed.
However, provided that the four percent increase is allocated in the way proposed by ASUW, student support for the increase grows 24 percent of students in favor with 56 percent opposed.
“If students are going to be asked to float the bill, we want to make sure that the university is using the money effectively,” Schueler said
ASUW is in favor of tuition increases, however they do not want the students to become the main source financial support for the university.
“We don’t want to see students become the default source of revenue,” Schueler said
The University of Wyoming’s Faculty Senate proposed a five percent tuition increase. This five percent would be allocated differently than ASUW’s.
Additionally, faculty senate member Arron Sulivet worried that significant tuition increases could be seen by legislators as lessening the need for state funding of the university.
The board of trustees’ current tuition policy for the 2015-2016 academic year relies on a four percent tuition increase with two percent being allocated toward a faculty and staff, one percent being allocated toward academic support and one percent being allocated toward libraries and IT.
