News Items
(Last Updated July 1)
July 1 Message to UW Bothell Students
Dear Students and Colleagues,
Yesterday, the Regents of the University of Washington passed a tuition increase of 20% for resident undergraduates. This brings our tuition and fees to around $10,700. While this is a substantial increase, it does not offset the cut in the state support for UW.
UW Bothell, like all public universities and colleges in the state has suffered greatly during this significant downturn in public support for higher education. Our student growth ameliorates the impact of budget cuts somewhat but we are still missing millions of dollars in our budget that would have been used to hire more faculty and staff to serve our students.
The tuition increase allows us to continue offering an appropriate selection of classes while keeping our class size under control. We are also able to maintain appropriate funding for services that support student success, such as our writing and quantitative skill center, library, career center, and counseling and wellness programs, among others. We added funds to create leadership opportunities in student life. We nearly doubled our commitment of funds to student financial aid. In addition, we are increasing the available funds to expand student jobs on campus. Without the significant increase in tuition revenue, we would have faced severe cutbacks in all of these critical areas.
Although it is very sad that publicly supported higher education today is supported less by the public and more by student tuition, I can assure you that every dollar we receive goes directly to the benefit of our students.
Kenyon S. Chan, Chancellor
2011-2012 Tuition Rates Approved by UW Regents June 30
The UW Board of Regents has approved tuition rates for the 2011-2012 academic year. Complete information on rates will be posted as soon as it is available.
June Message to UW Bothell Students
As the academic year draws to a close, the UW community looks forward to the commencement season. Many of our students are eagerly anticipating program graduation celebrations, and more than 700 students are participating in the University’s official Commencement ceremony June 12 in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. If you are among those who will be receiving a degree, congratulations and best wishes in your future endeavors. If you are returning to campus to continue your studies in the fall, I hope that the summer months will bring you productive pursuits and some much needed relaxation and sunshine.
UW Bothell will be enrolling a freshman class of about 500 students in Fall 2011. Admission to our freshman class was exceptionally competitive this year – we received more than 2,000 applications, up from about 400 applications just five years ago. As is typical of our freshman classes, the entering students are smart, diverse and very accomplished. We look forward to welcoming them to campus.
Finally, the University’s unprecedented budget challenges and the recent legislation authorizing the Board of Regents to set tuition rates for students have been subjects of considerable discussion and media coverage over the last few months. Even in the face of continued financial pressures, our ongoing commitment to provide our students with a rich array of programs and services is unwavering, as is our commitment to providing additional financial aid as tuition increases. If you and your family are concerned about financing your education, I encourage you to file a financial aid application for next year. You might also want to explore possibilities on the UW Bothell Financial Aid Web page, www.bothell.washington.edu/financialaid, or contact staff in the financial aid office if you have not already done so.
Have a great summer,
Hung Dang, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs
UW’s new ‘Pact with Students’ a response to changing times
A changed environment for higher education in Washington is prompting a change in how UW students will be involved in decisions that affect them.
The change also has prompted the creation of a formal “Pact with Students” that delineates the University’s commitment to carrying out its vision: educating “a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders through a challenging learning environment informed by cutting-edge scholarship.” The pact states, simply, “the quality of the student experience will always be our primary goal.”
“We’re entering a new world,” Interim Provost Mary Lidstrom says, “and we needed to re-affirm, through a formal statement, the University’s promise to our students.”
Students have recognized this changed environment, and as a companion to the pact have proposed the creation of the Provost’s Advisory Committee for Students. The proposal has been greeted warmly by Lidstrom.
“I’ve been meeting with a group of students informally all year,” she says. “I knew that if we received tuition-setting authority we’d want to create a group formally through which we could gather student input.
“When we discussed the students’ ideas, I suggested that the committee be structured broadly, so that it could provide feedback in general about budgetary issues that affect students.”
As now conceived, the committee will be analogous in most ways to the Faculty Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting, providing advice to the provost on budget proposals and acting as a sounding board for ideas and future directions.
“It will be good to hear from students on a variety of matters,” Lidstrom says. “We really need a group that can provide students’ advice on a broad range of issues — such matters as budget cuts and future investments, what quality means to students, what are the key elements of the student experience, the potential impact of differential tuition and the role of financial aid.”
“The state budget cuts have forced the University to make tough decisions which have a direct impact on the quality and accessibility of our education,” says Sarah Reyneveld, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS). “The committee will ensure that students are at the decision-making table to weigh in directly on policies that impact students, such as the decision to repeal a tuition waiver or raise tuition.”
“The prospect of the UW gaining tuition-setting authority certainly motivated our push for a student advisory board in part,” says Madeleine McKenna, president of the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW). “Regardless of what happened in Olympia this session, however, ASUW and GPSS wanted to make sure that this committee would be in place as a means to provide informed, comprehensive student input on planning and budgeting decisions.
“Budget cuts have undoubtedly intensified student demand to provide more input in how increasingly scarce dollars are allocated. At the same time, in such a climate the administration has an incumbent responsibility to provide students with greater transparency and accountability in these decisions.”
The advisory committee, which may come into being as soon as the end of May, will have 14 members: seven at-large ASUW members, four at-large GPSS members, the ASUW and GPSS presidents, and the student representative on the Faculty Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting. Students will be able to serve two year terms, although seniors will also be eligible for membership. “One year is hardly enough to learn about the UW’s budget process,” says Lidstrom, “so two-year terms are important.”
“Provost Lidstrom has been a tremendous leader in crafting the ‘Pact with Students,’ to assure that future provosts will include students in university decision-making,” Reyneveld says. “I believe codifying both the advisory committee and the pact are essential to ensuring that the administration is accountable for involving students in all levels of university decision-making.”
“I expect this structure will work very well,” Lidstrom says.
Read the text of the UW's Pact with Students.
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