Madison Initiative for Undergraduates Promises Quality, Affordability
Chancellor Biddy Martin recently launched the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, a major effort to preserve the quality of a UW–Madison education and improve its affordability.
The initiative, which must be approved by the UW System Board of Regents, proposes a supplemental tuition charge to improve the quality and long-term value of an undergraduate education while ensuring that affordability will no longer be a significant barrier to getting a UW–Madison degree.
“Both cost and quality are important to our students and their families,” says Martin.
The chancellor notes that UW–Madison students are having increasing difficulty getting access to needed courses and majors and to vital student services. In addition, the chancellor emphasizes that the university’s current unmet financial need is $20 million a year.
“With the funding from the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, we will add faculty and instructional support, student services, and need-based financial aid,” Martin says. “For every dollar of tuition revenue we use for financial aid, we will raise at least $1 from private sources.”
The funding comes from a supplemental tuition charge for UW–Madison students to be phased in during the next four years.
In-state students will pay a supplemental tuition charge that grows cumulatively by $250 per year over a four-year period. Out-of-state students will pay a supplemental tuition charge that grows cumulatively by $750 per year over the four-year period.
To ensure affordability of the opportunity to attend UW–Madison, in-state and out-of-state students who are eligible for need-based financial aid and whose families earn $80,000 or less will receive grants to offset the supplemental tuition charge.
When fully implemented, UW–Madison tuition —both in-state and out-of-state—will remain in the lower half of the Big Ten.
Money from this tuition adjustment will also go toward restoring about 75 faculty positions and additional instructional support that had to be eliminated in recent years, a move that will provide needed access to in-demand majors and gateway courses, such as those in biology, math, chemistry, Spanish, and economics, says Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters & Science.
Providing better access to these courses improves student progress and ensures that they graduate with the knowledge, abilities, and skills they need for a range of careers.
The funding will also encourage curricular and teaching innovations, including technology-assisted learning, and provide a more integrated learning experience.
The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates funding will also strengthen important student services, including career counseling, first-year interest groups, peer mentoring, disabled student services, service-learning projects, and expanding internship opportunities.
“Parents and students expect us to provide an exemplary undergraduate education and prepare students for an increasingly complex world,” Martin adds.
The chancellor is seeking feedback on the proposal. For more details or to send an e-mail message about the initiative, visit the Madison Initiative Web site.