Friday, October 23, 2009
Students take more classes
This year is the first time MSUM has initiated banded tuition, and according to projections made by President Edna Szymanski, it’s working.
“If you look at the credit production versus the head count, it’s definitely working; students are taking more credits,” Szymanski said.
The exact numbers are yet to be determined, but because these numbers have increased, the school’s budget is in better shape and the university can expect more state funding.
“(Banded tuition) is one of those things that can be a win-win for both the students and the school,” Szymanski said. “It increases the number of credits students take, then eventually increases the school’s percentage of the states money because credit production is one of the important determinations of the appropriations we get.”
One of the incentives of banded tuition that will benefit students in the long run is the high possibility in decreasing time to graduation. As Szymanski said, if the pattern of this type of tuition replicates that of other universities in the state, it will allow students to graduate earlier; therefore, saving an average of $5,000 in debt beyond what they would also be paying for a semester of tuition.
“Our target is to get people out in four years,” Szymanski said. “I would like to say in a couple years that we are progressively decreasing the time a student spends with us.”
She also added that this goal will take a while to be effective, so students have to continue taking more classes, and more specifically, they need to be taking the right classes, classes associated with their degree.
“We also have to do a stronger job in advising students how to balance credits and what courses to take,” Szymanski said. “We just implemented it this year, so the pattern is working; people are taking more credits, whether they’re taking the right credits, I don’t know yet.”
Even though it has already been released that overall enrollment is down, by projecting an increase in classes taken, the administration can also predict an increase in enrollment for upcoming years.
President Szymanski has remained optimistic for the future of the university, though predictions are difficult to make.
“It’s very hard to predict your resources in higher education. They depend on two variables: tuition rate and state appropriations, which rely on state’s budget situation,” Szymanski said.
Considering the fact that credit enrollment is up, the university will receive more state funding, and President Szymanski believes in a future increase in tuition rates.
“We will succeed in increasing enrollment,” Szymanski said. “I’ve got everything in place. There are people recruiting down in the cities, we’ve got new marketing underway, we’re using technology to recruit and we’re telling our story about how good we are. We’re doing the right things and it’s looking good.”