Students: Notice on differential tuition

Dear Students,

Beginning Fall Semester 2009, differential tuition will be implemented in the College of Engineering.

The decision to implement differential tuition was not an easy one, but became necessary with the current state budget cuts. We appreciate the input we received from many of you this past spring as we considered our response to the massive funding reductions. Revenue from differential tuition will only partially offset the cuts, as a significant portion of our base budget was lost.  But differential tuition will make a meaningful difference in our ability to cope during this budget crisis.  Without this change, we could not have maintained current course offerings (seriously impacting your progress towards graduation), and some academic programs might have faced even more serious consequences. 

Even with differential tuition in place, the U’s tuition will be well below average when compared to tuition charged by comparable programs.  Because of the laboratory costs, engineering education is more expensive than most disciplines, and many engineering programs have differential tuition (see http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=cehsedaddiss, pp. 196-197).

Beginning this Fall semester, all students will be charged an additional $35.00 per credit hour for credits taken in upper-division undergraduate Engineering courses (3000-5999) and $50.00 per credit hour for credits at the graduate level (6000 and above).  This will add about $420 per semester for a full-time undergraduate student and $450 per semester for a full-time graduate student. It is important to note that all of the differential tuition in the College of Engineering will be returned to the departments that generate it, thereby benefiting the students who pay the tuition directly.

For the past several years the College of Engineering has benefited enormously from the strong support of the State of Utah, which has funded the Engineering Initiative.  Through this support we have been able to hire more faculty, offer more courses, and improve our labs and facilities, increasing the number of students we can educate and greatly enhanced the quality of your education. Differential tuition will now help us maintain those programs.

We appreciate the support of the student representatives for differential tuition, and commit to continually strive to maintain, and as the economy allows state funding to improve, enhance the quality of education and opportunities offered to our students.

Sincerely,

Richard B. Brown
Dean of Engineering