As part of a plan to plug UC’s battered budget, the regents may vote as early as next month on the controversial, tradition-breaking proposal to require engineering undergraduates, along with those studying business, to pay $900 more a year than the rest of the student body. That would be in addition to the $2,514 systemwide fee increase all students are likely to see by next fall. Revenue-hungry UC officials say the two fields were chosen because salaries for their faculty members are significantly higher than the rest and because students majoring in those subjects tend to land well-paid jobs after graduation. And they point out that nearly half of all U.S. public universities have taken similar steps, with many joining the trend recently because state funding for higher education has declined during the recession… Other colleges have considered two-tier pricing but decided against it. At the College of William and Mary, a public university in Virginia, officials did not want tuition levels to influence a student’s choice of major, according to Samuel Jones, vice president of finance.

Read full article [here].
by Larry Gordon, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: October 12th, 2009, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.