UWS Student government OKs tuition bump

University of Wisconsin-Superior student leaders on Monday voted to bump tuition by $207 during the next three years to fund library services and expand career services on campus.

The differential tuition requests, which are essentially ongoing fee increases, must still be approved by the UW-System Board of Regents.

For the last five years, differential tuition has expanded the reach of UWS’ Jim Dan Hill Library. In the 2006-07 school year, the funds provided 13 more library hours a week, 49 extra database subscriptions and thousands of educational books, journals and DVD/videos for students to use.

“Previous to differential tuition, funding was $306,000 less,” said Jan Hanson, vice-chancellor of administration and finance for UWS. “They simply weren’t able to do the kind of things differential tuition has allowed them to do.”

Student senators questioned why such essential services were not being funded by other sources.

“Attempts to get state-based funding have failed” during the last two biennium, Hanson said.

The extra $137 per year to fund the library was approved by a vote of 7-0 with three students abstaining. The vote to upgrade career services with a $70 per year tuition hike was unanimous.

“I think there needs to be some type of service enlargement for Career Services,” said Brad Peot, one of the student senators.

“We’re behind,” agreed fellow senator Amanda Hanson. “If we want to turn out good students we have to turn out good students who know what they’re doing.”

Currently, Jan Hanson said, UWS has two staff members who provide career services as part of their duties. The differential tuition boost would fund two full-time staff — a coordinator and a support staff position — who would strictly work on career services such as workshops, mock interviews, job fairs, and advisement for undeclared majors.

“I’m unhappy we have to support this through differential tuition,” Amanda Hanson said. “Even if we support the service being asked for.”

Members of the Student Government Association voted 8-3 against putting the question to students directly in the form of a referendum during an April 14 meeting.

If approved, the tuition hike for undergraduate students would begin in the fall and end in the spring of 2011. Differential fees are prorated for part-time undergraduate students and do not apply to graduate or distance-learning students, according to the requests.

Tags: university, student, career, campus, tuition