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EDITORIAL: Price gouging by UW system
More mixed messages from the state's flagship university.
ROCK COUNTY is proud - for good reason - of the recent effort to raise funds to bring a four-year degree engineering program to the UW campus in Janesville. To their credit and the betterment of local communities across the county, several businesses donated significant money to make the effort succeed.
It is proof that public/private partnerships can be very effective in promoting progress.
And it is proof that there is strong demand from the private sector for engineers, in order to grow business and provide jobs for Wisconsin.
SO WHY IS the flagship of the UW system sending such a mixed and negative message for its engineering school?
Regents are expected to consider and approve a UW-Madison proposal that would tack what amounts to a $1,400 a year surcharge onto tuition costs for engineering students. The premium would raise about $3 million per year, according to estimates, which UW officials say would provide extra money to pay faculty and improve research opportunities in Madison.
Students, to no surprise, are crying foul. “I can't afford an extra $700 a semester,” a student told the Wisconsin State Journal. “This isn't something I was planning on. 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.”
Regents also have been asked to consider a $500 per semester premium to be added to tuition for business school students.
IS THERE A pattern in this? A premium for business students? Engineering students? Already, there are premiums for law students and medical students. Does it sound something like, “Hey, these are big-money careers. They can afford it.”
The idea should be to encourage students to enter demanding programs, including those with close ties to the job-creating private sector, not to find ways to gouge them. A cynic might conclude it's all part of the business-is-sort-of-dirty mentality so clearly prevalent among Madison's prevailing Lefty culture.
These days it seems more is heard from the UW system about money matters to pay faculty salaries and benefits, than about how to serve students and grow Wisconsin's knowledge-based economy. UW officials might argue that's because the governor and legislators have choked off too much money. And, maybe they have a point. State authorities should look long and hard at their obligations to support and preserve a world-class university system.
Meanwhile, though, we urge UW decision-makers to stop shaking down students and parents. Double-digit tuition increases - topped with curriculum-specific premiums - threaten to price Wisconsin kids out of school.
ROCK COUNTY is proud - for good reason - of the recent effort to raise funds to bring a four-year degree engineering program to the UW campus in Janesville. To their credit and the betterment of local communities across the county, several businesses donated significant money to make the effort succeed.
It is proof that public/private partnerships can be very effective in promoting progress.
And it is proof that there is strong demand from the private sector for engineers, in order to grow business and provide jobs for Wisconsin.
SO WHY IS the flagship of the UW system sending such a mixed and negative message for its engineering school?
Regents are expected to consider and approve a UW-Madison proposal that would tack what amounts to a $1,400 a year surcharge onto tuition costs for engineering students. The premium would raise about $3 million per year, according to estimates, which UW officials say would provide extra money to pay faculty and improve research opportunities in Madison.
Students, to no surprise, are crying foul. “I can't afford an extra $700 a semester,” a student told the Wisconsin State Journal. “This isn't something I was planning on. 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.”
Regents also have been asked to consider a $500 per semester premium to be added to tuition for business school students.
IS THERE A pattern in this? A premium for business students? Engineering students? Already, there are premiums for law students and medical students. Does it sound something like, “Hey, these are big-money careers. They can afford it.”
The idea should be to encourage students to enter demanding programs, including those with close ties to the job-creating private sector, not to find ways to gouge them. A cynic might conclude it's all part of the business-is-sort-of-dirty mentality so clearly prevalent among Madison's prevailing Lefty culture.
These days it seems more is heard from the UW system about money matters to pay faculty salaries and benefits, than about how to serve students and grow Wisconsin's knowledge-based economy. UW officials might argue that's because the governor and legislators have choked off too much money. And, maybe they have a point. State authorities should look long and hard at their obligations to support and preserve a world-class university system.
Meanwhile, though, we urge UW decision-makers to stop shaking down students and parents. Double-digit tuition increases - topped with curriculum-specific premiums - threaten to price Wisconsin kids out of school.
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