Ag differential tuition? USUSA leaders not on board
The College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences may be the next to start paying differential tuition at Utah State University, but some student leaders are not on board.
At its most recent meeting in January, the USU Board of Trustees approved a motion for the College of Agriculture and Applied Science to implement differential tuition to fund student services, primarily advising.
It was approved almost unanimously, with only one exception: USU Student Association President Jaren Hunsaker.
“I don’t have an issue necessarily with differential tuition, as long as I see purpose in it … making your degree more valuable,” Hunsaker told The Utah Statesman afterward.
While he agrees differential tuition will make advising more accessible and convenient, he said he doesn’t believe it’s worth the extra cost to the students.
CAAS Dean Ken White, who presented the college’s proposal to the board, said the idea originally came from the college’s USUSA senator four years ago.
“My immediate response was no, I didn’t think that was something we wanted,” White said. “But after multiple sessions with her, she convinced me to at least take a look at it, collect some data and make a decision based on data, and she was totally right.”
However, Hunsaker said the proposal didn’t reflect what students wanted based on conversations he has had with them — specifically current CAAS Senator Dexton Lake and most of his student council.
“I figure if the senator and the whole council is willing to be opposed to this, then that’s a pretty good indication of what the majority of the students feel,” Hunsaker said.
Lake said he does not believe differential tuition will benefit every student in the college who has to pay for it.
So he, Hunsaker, USUSA Student Advocate Vice President Sam Jackson and Executive Vice President Allie Smith wrote a letter expressing their concerns to the state Board of Regents, which will make the final vote on the proposal at its next meeting on March 28.
Lake said every member of the CAAS student council signed the letter in agreement except one.
“If we’re expecting every student to pay differential tuition, every student should benefit,” Lake said. “And the way it’s written right now, that’s not going to happen.”
A video on the college’s website explains that differential tuition will provide students with real-world learning opportunities outside the classroom, cut waiting time for meeting with adviseors and help to connect students with internship opportunities.
Lake said the video actually misinforms students when it says the university-provided career adviser for the college is shared by the college of education.
When the proposal was written, he said, that was true. But since then, some reorganization within the university changed that, and the two colleges now each have their own career adviser.
Lake said Associate Dean Brian Warnick apologized for the inconsistencies when he brought them up, but the video still contains that information.
He said he believes if students fully educate themselves and read the proposal (which can be found in the Board of Trustees meeting agenda online here), they would also disagree with implementing differential tuition.
White and Warnick are revising the proposal to be sent to the Regents, as the Trustees voted in approval but with modifications. The college initially proposed $15 per credit hour on courses below the 3000 level, $39 for upper division, then raising $10 each year for the next two years for upper division. The Board of Trustees approved $15 and $39, but voted to keep it at that level and reassessing after three years.
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