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Complete ‘07 Summer Semester: CHECK!

Posted by E-George on July 26, 2007

Yesterday was the final in my circuits class, and what a doozie of a final it was, too.  I walked out of that classroom feeling like a clodded oaf gifted with special brand of stupid.   But, either way, the class is over.  I took the proverbial bull by its horns and, while I didn’t manage to wrestle to its knees, went for a really exciting 8-week ride.   Now, I must register for next semester at UNM’s new, improved, and higher tuition rates.

Speaking of tuition - I have created a new incentive program, and I’m debating whether or not to send this idea to the office of the university president.  Here’s the idea:

Tuition Plateaus for students of 3.5 GPA or higher:

Criteria:

  1. The student has to have declared a major, and currently be accepted to the school.  (This (generally) minimum standard will preclude freshman and most sophomore students.  Additionally, this should improve student retention through graduation!)
  2. The student must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better.

The idea is this:

Starting the first semester when a student has a recorded GPA of 3.5 or better, their tuition rates flatten - i.e., they are not subject to the persistent increase in tuition costs as a reward for good grades.   The student is then only required to pay tuition at the rate they previously paid.  Any semester they dip below 3.5, they are required to pay current tuition rates, but the next time they’re above a 3.5 they can pay what they paid last time.

The alternate idea is this:

A freshman student enters the university and pays tuition for their first semester.  If they manage to keep a 3.5 GPA or better, they never have to pay increased tuition costs - their tuition rates will always be what they paid upon initial entrance to the university.  Any time their GPA dips below a 3.5, their tuition rates immediately increase to the current rate.  If a student persistently cannot achieve a 3.5 GPA, then they are required to pay current tuition rates each semester.

This should achieve the following:

  1. Create motivation for students to achieve greater grades than plain minimums, since doing so directly impacts their pocket books.
  2. Uses the lottery scholarship money more efficiently -potentially making more dollars available to the tuition pot.
  3. Increase student retention from freshman through graduation.  Much of the retention issues of universities surround tuition costs, and the constant 10-13% annual increase in prices.
  4. Revolutionize how students view the undergraduate educational process.  While the student is expected to respect and appreciate the establishment, there is no similar reciprocal behavior of the establishment indicating that it is happy to receive and foster the student.  Tuition benefits hinged on grades is a good first step towards building a healthy, mutually respectful relationship.
  5. Create loyalty, school spirit, and better voluntary alumni participation.  If I had a college experience where the university seemed happy to see me, was rewarding my efforts and good grades in a financially tangible way, I would be more likely to laud, promote, and otherwise support my university.

It’s an interesting idea, although the details would definitely need to be hashed out.  Details surrounding how this applies to scholarships, financial aid, etc…

It’s also an idea rooted in fantasy that will never get farther than my brain and this web site.   My idea coming to fruition is no more probable than my sailing a Twinkie raft down a chocolate river to land on the banks of cotton-candy fields to help the gummy bear share croppers bring in their bumper crop of candy corn.


Filed Under: Happiness is - Comments:



  • John Tiesi said,

    Although a sound idea, I must wholeheartedly disagree. Without your tutition increases I would not garner a raise every year, thus leaving leaving me in a lower tax bracket, thus collecting less in income taxes, thus leaving less money available for your hubby to garner a raise, thus leaving less money in your collective pocket to spend.

    Isn’t the world a wonderfully vicious cycle?

  • E-George said,

    I strongly suspect that tuition increases are rarely used to line the pockets of those who need it (i.e., your annual raises & the vicious cycle therein) but are more funneled into building projects, multi-cultural programs, paying exorbitant prices for sport coaches, and paying for the maintenance & upkeep of the physical buildings. While some of those things are necessary, some are not.

    My concept isn’t for cheap tuition. Cheap education often goes hand-in-hand with cheap tuition. My concept promotes an tuition-based financially-beneficial award system to those students who apply themselves to their chosen field of study. A type of fairness & equitability in tuition dispersement. My idea doesn’t apply broadly across all the student body, either. Most kids can’t keep a GPA of 3.5 and those who can are rare. The financial loss to th system overall would be nominal, unless NM started to suddenly produce scads of super geniuses. No slam against NM, but it’s unlikely that every new Freshman entering UNM will suddenly achieve and/or maintain a 3.5 GPA and thus cripple the earning potential for the rest of us.

    Like I said, the idea is in its infancy. Any application of it would require some serious and rigorous thought.

  • John Tiesi said,

    President Schmidly would probably love to hear it. You might be surprised at his reaction.

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