Differential tuition paying immediate dividends

The price may have gone up, but the increased value of an education and degree from the College of Business will be well worth it and can already be seen, COB Dean Douglas Anderson said.

After one semester with differential tuition in effect in the COB, Anderson said the money has already been put to use hiring new teachers, making improvements to the Business building and providing increased hands-on learning opportunities for COB students.

“Our pledge is to make sure that we add more value than we add cost,” Anderson said. “Nobody likes to see costs go up. But if you know you’re getting greater value for your money, it’s something you can recognize in the long run as a very valuable investment.”

The investment Anderson speaks of is what he terms the brand value of a USU degree. He said as the COB improves the quality of education, the value of a degree from USU will also improve.

“There’s no question that these investments are making a stronger College of Business, and that means their degree is going to be worth more,” Anderson said. “That’s really why I think people understand why this is necessary. Because at the end of the day if your degree depreciates, then what have you got? This is absolutely essential to securing and building the value of the band of the College of Business at Utah State University.

College of Business Senator Edward Norton said the increased brand value can be thought of like a degree from Harvard.

“If you have a degree from Harvard, you can show that now and get a lot of credit and a lot of credibility toward that,” Norton said. “But in the long run, as I realized as the College of Business continues to improve and as I show people that I’m a graduate from (USU), that credibility will be established too, where it will indeed benefit me.”

At the heart of establishing this brand is the differential tuition that was put in effect starting this fall, where undergraduate students registered for any upper division COB course – 3000 level or above – were charged an additional $35 per credit hour, and graduate students paid out $75 per credit hour.

These added costs will increase again in 2008 as undergraduate students will pay an additional $15 to the current differential tuition, paying $50 in all per credit hour. Differential tuition will also increase for graduate students over the next two years, rising to $125 per credit hour in 2008 and resting at $185 per credit hour in 2009.

The COB is currently the only college at USU to employ differential tuition, but it is not the only business school in the country or even in the state to implement the program, Anderson said.

“We are actually following a trend, not creating a trend,” Anderson said. “We are following a trend that has occurred throughout the United States and in the West where public institutions are starting to charge differential tuition for professional education in the university.”

Anderson said USU’s differential tuition was modeled after the University of Utah’s, which was approved by the Board of Regents a year before USU petitioned for differential tuition. Though the differential tuition arrangements are similar, Anderson said USU’s is a better bang for the buck.

“We’re trying to stay in proximity with the University of Utah but at a lower number than the University of Utah,” Anderson said. “We’re still price comparative against the U. It is absolutely essential for the support and growth of the college.”

Even with a lower differential tuition, COB students are still looking at $35 per credit hour, a hefty price for some students.

Norton said when he first heard of differential tuition it was hard to swallow the price tag, but he knew it was going to be in his best interest in the long run.

“Obviously any college student is searching for more money and cheaper things, no matter what they’re looking into,” Norton said. “But one thing that I know the dean’s done and also the Business Council this year has done, is provide more scholarship opportunities for the students to help eliminate as much as possible those financial concerns.”

Anderson said the COB has tried to alleviate the raise in differential tuition through scholarships, particularly through the generosity of one Cache Valley couple, DeLoy and Lynette Hansen, who have donated $90,000 this year to provide 100 scholarships “specifically designed to help offset the impact of the differential tuition.” Anderson said the Hansens will continue to offer these scholarships and will pay out $100,000 next year.

Jordan Davis, senior double majoring in international business and Asian studies, is a recipient of one of the Hansen scholarships.

“Obviously as students, any increase is a scary thing,” Davis said. “I was able to get a scholarship for $200 to cover that rate.”

In all, 240 students have received scholarships or some form of financial assistance to help pay for tuition, differential or not.

Even with the increased tuition, Anderson said the COB has lost “virtually no students.”

At a rate of $35 per credit hour, the differential tuition quickly adds up to provide significant dollars to the COB.

If all 897 full-time undergraduate COB students at the junior or senior level – those students most likely to take upper division courses – were to take at least two upper division courses, $188,370 would be added to the COB per semester. There are also 353 part-time undergraduate students at the junior or senior level that will contribute to that as well.

Anderson said the COB has already put this money to use. Seven new teachers were hired that are primarily focused on undergraduate teaching, providing a benefit to the students paying differential tuition, Anderson said.

“These are some of the very best. These are top teachers,” Anderson said. “Nobody can remember when we had such a great recruiting class and young new faculty, both in terms of numbers and in terms of quality.”

While USU may have recruited some quality teachers, continuing to recruit and retain teachers comes with a heavy price tag, a problem that is plaguing the entire country, Anderson said.

“We know that we simply have to do it to attract and retain the professors that we’re after,” Anderson said. “What we try to do is, we try to recruit at the median level in terms of salaries for new PhDs. We’re not going at the very top. We want to stay at the median because we feel that makes us competitive.”

But while USU recruits between the 75th and 80th percentile, Anderson said it is difficult to retain teachers because “of salary compression and salary inversion that we’re struggling with and trying to address.” Anderson said fixing this problem will require increased assistance from the state Legislature.

Another area which differential tuition has been put to use is in improvements to the aging Business building, Anderson said. ASUSU approved $10,000, and an additional $190,000 were contributed – partly from differential tuition – to remodel the auditorium on the main floor of the Business building, which Anderson said is the second-most used classroom space on campus.

Anderson said a significant $2 million renovation to the first three floors of the Business building will begin next summer.

“Students are seeing immediate impact for the impact they’re making in the College of Business,” Anderson said. “We’re getting tremendous support. Everybody’s pulling in the same direction, and there’s a real sense of momentum around the college. Great things are happening.”

-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu