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UW Seeks Public Input On Tuition Changes

Tennessee Watson

As a land-grant institution, the University of Wyoming is charged with providing accessible and affordable higher education. In keeping with that mission the UW Board of Trustees is seeking public input regarding ongoing tuition increases.

The board currently has a policy of increasing tuition by four percent each year, which will be under review at its next meeting in September. For 2018-19 the resident undergraduate full-time tuition and fees totals $5,400, and is $17,490 for non-residents. That rate does not include room and board. If you’d like to see tuition decrease or increase in the coming years now is your chance to weigh in.

But the trustees are also considering reducing non-resident tuition for several online graduate programs by 45 percent. There’s a proposal to decrease the per credit rate by close to $200 for the online Bachelor of Science in Nursing to better compete with peer universities for enrollment. The board is also considering a five percent increase for online MBA programs that are below market price.

UW’s Associate Vice President for Financial Affairs David Jewell said it’s important to note the tuition changes outside the routine four percent increase focus on online education.

“What we are talking about is online education and trying to grow some of the graduate education programs and make ourselves more marketable in terms of what the market is willing to pay for an online education,” said Jewell.

The proposed changes are the result of conversations with program administrators and analysis of pricing at peer institutions, but Jewell said public input is also needed to help inform the trustees’ decision.

“I think that the administration and the Board of Trustees, rightfully so, want to be very sensitive and attentive to the feedback and the citizens of this state in terms of the cost of education at the University of Wyoming and affordability,” said Jewell.

For more information on how to comment available here. The deadline is August 24.

Tennessee -- despite what the name might make you think -- was born and raised in the Northeast. She most recently called Vermont home. For the last 15 years she's been making radio -- as a youth radio educator, documentary producer, and now reporter. Her work has aired on Reveal, The Heart, LatinoUSA, Across Women's Lives from PRI, and American RadioWorks. One of her ongoing creative projects is co-producing Wage/Working (a jukebox-based oral history project about workers and income inequality). When she's not reporting, Tennessee likes to go on exploratory running adventures with her mutt Murray.
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