Business school looking to increase differential tuition
The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business is planning to propose an increase in differential tuition of $20 per undergraduate, upper-division credit hour for the next three years.
By the 2017-2018 school year, undergraduates would pay $60 per upper-division credit hour. The increase for graduate students is a $40 per credit hour increase per year.
The school will be holding town hall meetings Dec. 2-3 in the O.C. Tanner Lounge to answer student questions before the proposal is brought to the USU Board of Trustees and the State Board of Regents this spring.
Dave Patel, associate dean of student and external affairs for the business school, said the current differential tuition rate brought in almost $6 million this year, but in order to stay competitive and keep up with market forces, the Huntsman school sees a need for a raise.
“What we’re focused on is our aspirations to make a top-tier program,” Patel said. “Just like anything else in life, quality has a cost associated to it.”
Differential tuition was introduced to the business school in 2007. Currently, all students enrolled in business courses pay $2 per credit hour for lower-level business courses and $97 per credit hour for upper-division business courses.
Administrators from the business school will meet with the business council in January, the USUSA Executive Council in early February and the USU Board of Trustees and the Board of Regents in March.
Patel said the school is restructuring its undergraduate core curriculum, which calls for the addition of five new classes. The school also plans to add a minor in real estate as well as other electives.
With a 16 percent enrollment increase since 2007, Patel cites a need to hire more faculty to accommodate the additional classes.
“If you’re adding classes that every business student is going to have to take, that’s lots of sections,” Patel said. “So that, again, creates the need to hire teachers to teach all those.”
Patel said the proposed increase will keep the Huntsman school in competition with other business schools in the state and around the country.
He said he sees the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah as the Huntsman school’s main contender, and because the Eccles school recently passed its third round of differential tuition, those in charge of the Huntsman school wish to stay competitive without charging as much for tuition.
“As a conscious decision on our part, we want to stay in the same sphere as the Eccles School but at a price advantage,” Patel said.
The town hall meetings are to serve as an informational opportunity for students. Patel said although student concern will be taken into consideration, the town hall meetings are not meant to gauge student agreement.
“I think what we have to balance against that is the real need,” Patel said. “Whatever dollar amount extra revenue that we get from this proposed increase if it passes, represents a real need and not a real want. This is what we need in order to not just stay where we are but to get better as a program. And I would think that all students want their education to be better not just while they’re students but as they become alumni and say, ‘I went to a great business school.'”
Some students are not impressed with the proposal, stating that their tuition is already quite expensive.
“It’s more about them getting money than us getting our education,” said Taylor Mungia, a sophomore majoring in marketing. “I guess that’s happening everywhere as well. … I understand why they’re doing it — because they can, but it still kind of stinks for us.”
Nickoles Clason, a junior majoring in political science and economics, said students need to be aware of all repercussions before making a decision. Clason is concerned with school administration’s level of transparency.
“What students need in order to make an informed decision on the issue is knowing where the money has gone in the (past), a detailed reason as to why they need the increase as well as the information regarding what was originally passed by the Utah State University Board of Trustees and the Utah Board of Regents,” he wrote in an email to The Utah Statesman. “As such, I urge the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business to release the aforementioned information.”
Clason added that he knows the final decision will be in the hands of the USU Board of Trustees.
“If students are opposed to the increase, they should petition the Board of Trustees to vote against the differential tuition increase, as (the trustees) should vote with what the students want,” he wrote.
Scott Lenari, business senator, said he sees both sides of the issue.
“As far as differential tuition is concerned, I think it’s an interesting topic that doesn’t have a simple answer,” Laneri wrote in an email to The Utah Statesman. “Intuitively, more resources for the school seems like a good thing. I have benefited from staff and faculty whose salaries are paid for in part or wholly by differential tuition. Dean Patel has talked with me about many of the reasons for increasing proposal, and honestly, I find most of the reasons compelling.”
Nevertheless, Laneri said he’s heard students with the opposite view.
“On the other hand, I know plenty of students who don’t feel like they have seen the benefits of differential tuition,” Laneri wrote. “In the end, I want to help students understand everything they need to understand about the issue and then represent what the majority of students want. I think with whatever happens moving forward, the most important thing is to have clear lines of communication between students and administrators.”
— manda.perkins@hotmail.com
Twitter: @perkins_manda