Academic initiative update

“As Chancellor I know a lot of things, but I don’t know everything,” said Joe Gow while presenting new information on the Academic Initiative program’s differential tuition before the UW-L Student Senate.
Oversight in last semester’s Academic Initiative Resolution calls for an additional fee increase and could pose problems when UW-L presents the proposal to the UW-System Board of Regents.
The Senate passed a resolution on Jan. 27 that allows differential tuition to rise annually in order to account for typical salary increases and to liquidate the current reserve.
“When we did the referendum, apparently there is an inflationary piece to the fee, and I don’t know that it’s that huge of a number, but technically it wasn’t included in the referendum we put out for the vote,” said Gow.
The projected plan looks to raise the total annual cost for Academic Initiatives to $157.21 by 2015, but uses this number only as a maximum and not as a benchmark.
Starting in the 2010-2011 school year, the fee will be $120, as planned, with up to an additional $12 added the following school year to account for inflation. Then the fee will increase by up to six percent each year until 2015, when Academic Initiatives will have to be renewed.
“We wouldn’t have to go up to the six percent but that’s the cap,” said Dean of Students Paula Knudson.
The Student Senate passed a similar proposal the previous school year, allowing for this increase before this year’s Academic Initiatives was passed.
 “Technically this body had already approved the inflationary component, but we didn’t have it in the actual referendum,” said Gow.
The increase is necessary to account for and salary increases for the ten faculty members paid through the fee as well as a means to ease out of a dependence on a dwindling reserve fund.
While some might argue that the referendum may have gone differently in light of this new information, Gow is confident that the resolution would still have had the same student support.
 “To be honest with you, I don’t think it would change a thing.”

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