The UW Board of Regents is setting new guidelines for approving special tuition hikes. The Board on Friday approved changes to how requests for differential tuition increases are reviewed. UW System spokesman Dave Giroux says Regents want to stress the importance of having student input on efforts to launch new initiatives on a specific campus.
Differential tuition increases are used when extra funding is needed for a project or program on one particular campus, such as a student community center at the UW-Platteville. Giroux says Regents wanted to establish clear guidelines for the approval process.
Critics of the policy wanted it to allow for binding student referendums on the tuition hikes, but such votes would only be considered advisory under what was adopted. Giroux says the results of any student body vote would still be given serious consideration.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:10)