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Murphy, Thomas H. (ed.) / Wisconsin alumnus
Vol. 73, Number 1 (Oct. 1971)
The University, pp. 17-22
Page 17
The University Fees Rise, Freeze, Descend Again Fees and tuitions for the first se- mester were rolled back by the execu- tive committee of the Board of Re- gents from a planned increase, to freeze them at last year's level for the duration of the current federal pay and price freeze. Any students who paid the higher fees set for the semester by the Board of Regents before the national action will get a refund or credit on subse- quent fees, Executive Vice Pres. Don- ald E. Percy said. In effect, students will pay for the first two-thirds of the semester at last year's rate, the final third at the rate based on the budget now before the Legislative Conference Committee on the Budget, he explained. For all campuses except the Cen- ter System, the undergraduate fees for the semester, previously set at $275 for residents and $950 for non- residents, have been rolled back to $261 for residents, $916 for non- residents. At Center System cam- puses, fees were $15 lower originally than elsewhere in the University and now will be $12 lower than the new roll-back fees elsewhere. For graduate students, fees. set originally at $320 for residents and $1,100 for non-residents were rolled back to $305 for residents, $1,076 for non-residents. Similar changes were made in per credit fees, Medical School, Exten- sion, and other special fees, the Uni- versity announced. New L. & S Program Permits Degrees in Three Years With this fall semester a new cur- riculum was made available for L & S students who want to-and are able to-earn a bachelor's degree in three years. The program was established over a two-year period of study by a fac- ulty-student committee. The goal was to provide a more liberal approach to undergraduate course requirements and a more accurate assessment of a new student's prior training. Students choosing to take the pro- gram will still need 120 credits to graduate. But two major factors will help them earn those credits faster: A liberalization of courses required as "basic" for undergrads. For exam- ple, the majority of students will now be able to meet foreign language re- quirements in t h ei r freshman year here or in high school. The second factor is added empha- sis on testing so that students with previous training, travel or education will not have to duplicate their efforts to receive credit for learning they have already acquired. Other aids are a new rule, now in effect only in the Language De- partment but applicable in other dis- ciplines, which permits a student who does well in an intermediate level course to receive credit for related lower-level courses. A n o t h e r rule would p e r mit students to "create" majors not carried by the individual departments by setting up their own program of courses. This plan would require the advice and approval of a faculty member, and a new faculty committee on individual majors. Patrick Runde, assistant L- & S dean, said the new program was not meant to "encourage students to move through the University in less than four years, but we want to let them do it if they can and want to." A note of caution was raised by Associate Director of Academic Planning Joe Corry, who said "there are still a lot of people who feel a student needs four years of college to complete his maturation process." Ann Emery Closes After 41 years, Ann Emery Hall women's residence has closed its doors. The privately-owned dorm at 265 Langdon was another victim of an increasing number of students choosing to live off campus in apart- ments. Last year, Langdon and Lowell Halls closed. According to Newell Smith, direc- tor of student housing, other contrib- uting factors are the necessarily higher rental fees in private dorms; the c u t b a c k in out-of-state enroll- ment; and prohibitions on room visi- tation by male students in these dorms. On the other hand, Smith said, UW residence halls had higher registra- tion for the fall semester than was exp e c t e d. Pre-registration figures promised about 6,000 residents, 600 more than had been predicted at the end of the spring semester. New Policy, Will Push Enrollment Of Minority Groups Admissions policies for the Madi- son campus that will attempt to boost minority group enrollment to levels "at least proportional to the under- graduate population" were approved by the regents in August. This would mean at least three per- cent minority enrollment among un- dergraduates from Wisconsin and at least 15 percent among undergradu- ates from other states. "Given the present UW minority student proportions of approximately 1.4 percent and 5.4 percent respec- tively, a much greater effort to dis- cover and aid these minorities is plainly a responsibility of the Univer- sity, despite its intensive efforts in this matter of the past several years," fac- ulty and student members of the Ad- missions Policy Committee stated in their report. They say that establishing such a goal would be irresponsible without providing additional financial and ed- ucational assistance. The committee proposed that the following statement become part of the official admissions policy: "We are aware of and sensitive 17 October, 1971
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