ASUSU candidate applications still being accepted
ASUSU public relations director Lacey Nagao said a mandatory candidate meeting had a turnout of more than 50 people interested in running for 2011-12 academic senate and ASUSU executive council seats. There are two unopposed positions at this point, science senator and graduate student senator. Anyone else interested in running has one week to complete the necessary application, she said at the ASUSU executive council’s Wednesday meeting.
A proposal to raise differential tuition for the Hunstman School of Business graduate and undergraduate students was presented during that meeting and was unanimously approved.
Ken Snyder, department head of the business school, presented the proposal with ASUSU business senator Skyler Jenks and said the committee over differential tuition decided raising undergraduate business tuition by $15 and graduate business tuition by $50 will sustain the funding the college needs. Undergraduate fees are applied to 1-4000 level classes, while graduate fees are applied to 5-6000 level classes.
“Our costs here are less than any other research institution we could find,” Snyder said. “The schools who are less costly are Utah Valley University and Webster State, but those are teaching institutions. We will compete with them in quality.”
Currently, differential tuition for undergraduate students sits at $52 and $199 for graduate students in the business school. These additional costs will increase every year by $15 and $50, respectively, until 2014. Snyder said he is unsure whether differential tuition will need to be raised again at that time.
“This puts a burden on students and their families and we are sensitive to that,” Snyder said.
In order to patch up the added costs, Snyder said the college is working ambitiously at accumulating more scholarships for students. Nearly 400 more scholarships have been acquired to help business students through higher education when compared to 2006.
Differential tuition is used for faculty and staff salaries, operating expenses, student services and programs and expenditures such as marketing, which consists of half the administrative infrastructure spending.
ASUSU executive vice president Brent Crosby said he supports the differential tuition increase because it is necessary to see the business school grow. There are 58 new faculty and staff in the business building, and 30 of these receive their salaries from differential tuition, and Snyder said he predicts 19 faculty and staff member will be hired to the business school within the next three years.
“I got one e-mail from a student who was a little upset, but besides that the feedback has been positive,” Snyder said.
ASUSU President Tyler Tolson said at the meeting that formulations for a student recreation center has taken the next step, and he, along with his committee are looking into finding an architect to give the project “a little more depth.”
USU Provost Raymond Coward discussed his concerns with ASUSU student advocate Dan Ricks regarding course fees being pushed on students.
“We are doing everything we can to rectify this issue,” Ricks said.
Ricks, Coward and the course fee board have been discussing how to eliminate these extra fees for students.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu