Category: Chancellor

Since Chancellor Biddy Martin unveiled her supplemental tuition proposal weeks ago, it has been fervently discussed across campus. The Herald Editorial Board sounded off in favor (with conditions) immediately after the announcement and the enemy paper followed suit with an endorsement as well. On the other side of the issue has been the venerated Board of Roommates. Their editorials have run the gamut from â??huh?â? to â??fuck that.â?

With the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates proposal scheduled to be sent to University of Wisconsin System officials Thursday, Chancellor Biddy Martin sent an e-mail to students last week updating them on the direction the initiative is taking.

The e-mail outlined several updates to the proposal, which was originally announced March 24. The updates concern common questions asked by students and details on the parts of the proposal that have been deemed especially important or were added after its initial unveiling.

Have you seen your adviser lately? Who are these people anyway?

Each student on campus has an assigned adviser, typically depending on whom you saw at SOAR. Unfortunately, many students fail to fully appreciate and use this important resource. The value of advising cannot be underestimated.

The truth is, there arenâ??t enough advisers to go around. Wouldnâ??t it be nice to have easy access to good advisers across campus, regardless of your major? There have been lots of questions and discussion about Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates.

Recently, Chancellor Carolyn â??Biddyâ? Martin proposed a tuition increase called the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates. While some of the goals of this initiative seem worthy and noble, many students have found problems with parts of this plan and have voiced valid oppositions and concerns through the Madison Initiative for Undergraduate websiteâ??s forums (www.madisoninitiative.wisc.edu) and through local student newspapers.

While it is admirable that Chancellor Biddy Martin tried to collect student feedback through the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates website, thus far no action has been taken to change the proposal to accommodate the concerns of current and future students and their parents. Therefore, if students do not take real action to oppose this proposal, it will soon be passed by the Board of Regents.

There seems very little sense in trying to get water from a dry well. Chancellor Biddy Martin, however, feels otherwise. The chancellor released a plan, the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, that would increase in-state tuition $250 and out-of-state tuition $750 annually for four years. The proposal has noble enough goals; half the money will go to financial aid to needy students, while the other half will go into better undergraduate education.

Focusing on the disparity in tuition costs between UW-Madison and other Big Ten universities, Chancellor Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates proposes a yearly progressive hike in tuition. This proposed increase would support greater financial aid, expanded student service and improved faculty retention.

Although the intention of this proposal is on track in many ways, there are a few inherent flaws. For one, the choice of $80,000 as the cutoff that determines whether students will pay the cumulative increase seems to be one of convenience rather than logic. Second, although it seeks to provide aid for students who demonstrate financial need, raising tuition is generally not an ideal process to make the cost of a college education more affordable. Third, as a soon-to-be alumnus of the university, I would much rather see any monetary donation used to retain faculty and be a lure for newer faculty instead of providing financial aid.

Chancellor Biddy Martin recently released the details of a plan to enhance the quality of the undergraduate educational experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison while preserving affordability for families with demonstrated financial need. The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates will be funded through an increase in tuition, a premium that will be offset with private grants for those who can least afford to pay the increase. The stakes have never been higher for our great university, and I wanted to share my thoughts on this initiative with current students who may feel confused or burdened by this.

About 40 student leaders and administrators met with Chancellor Biddy Martin Monday to clarify and introduce advancements to the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates.

In an effort to include the student voice to the greatest extent, the chancellor received an extension for when the final date the plan must be submitted to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.

Although we all come from different backgrounds, are majoring in different subjects and have different goals and expectations for ourselves, every single UW-Madison student can agree with the following statement: Tuition hikes suck.

Unfortunately, these increases are inevitable, even in the midst of a recession. Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Undergraduate Initiative proposal is yet another justification for an additional tuition increase. However, is it a practical and justified burden to place on students? The short answer is yes, but despite the many issues Martinâ??s Undergraduate Initiative proposal addresses, it also unfortunately contains several flaws which need to be dealt with before the proposal itself actually takes effect.

You and I have been privileged to attend one of the top 25 teaching and research universities in the world. We are the beneficiaries of the people of the state of Wisconsin and of the ongoing support of our federal government. The people of Wisconsin recognize the role the university plays in educating the workforce of the state, in fostering the arts, in making breakthrough discoveries that improve our health and well-being and in broadening the opportunities for the citizens of Wisconsin.

In the midst of midterms and finals UW-Madison students often find it difficult to receive help from professors with crowded office hours, but with the Greater University Tutoring Service looking to expand its services, help may be more readily available to students.

Shuhan He, a senior at UW-Madison, said he has big plans to expand GUTS to include Skills Acquisition Guiding Experience. The program would provide peer-mentoring groups, beginning in the Zoology department. SAGE would eventually expand to all departments on campus that wish to collaborate with GUTS.

The deans of the UW-Madison School of Business and College of Engineering want their students to know they will benefit from a proposed tuition hike for all undergraduates.

Engineering Dean Paul Peercy and Business Dean Mike Knetter penned an editorial in todayâ??s edition of the student newspaper The Daily Cardinal in support of the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, arguing it is necessary on top of the extra tuition engineering and business students already pay.

Although largely scrutinized, Biddy Martinâ??s proposed Madison Initiative for Undergraduates will do more good than harm for the student body. It is easy to get riled up by numbers, but after hearing all of the fuss, I was surprised to find much of the commotion is over petty change. With tuition numbers in the thousands, it is hard for me to comprehend the impact $2,500 at most is likely to have on me in the long-run.

But I do know something that is likely to have an impact. Lecture halls filled to the brink, the loss of renowned faculty to a student body unwilling to fork out the money and the end of distinguished reputation in a school known for above-average academia. I have heard enough horror stories about seniors who are unable to graduate on time due to competitive majors. It is about time the student body put their money where their mouth is. Stop complaining about the bitter-sweetness of Biddyâ??s cookies and realize how fortunate we are to have an initiative that is looking out for our needs as students.

Leave it to libertarians to reduce every single issue on earth, be it political, economical or social, to absolutism.

Leave it to them to turn an innocuous and practical initiative like Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates into a new battlefront between those who value freedom and self-reliance and those pesky Marxists who just love leeching off the rich. One needs to look no further than the way those who oppose the Madison Initiative are going about framing the discussion as proof of these tendencies. Yet, is it true that this initiative is just another case of â??wealth redistributionâ??

UW-Madison Chancellor Carolyn â??Biddyâ? Martin has proposed a new initiative to provide additional investment in the undergraduate experience at UW-Madison through a premium tuition applied only on the Madison campus. We support this initiative for the following reasons:

â?¢ We believe there are important investments that need to be made in undergraduate education on our campus. We believe these investments will boost the quality of the experience and student outcomes (which accrue over a lifetime) by more than the increase in cost.

The Associated Students of Madison partially endorsed the Wisconsin Initiative for Undergraduates Wednesday and resolved to create a shared governance committee to oversee the allocation of the funds if the initiative passes.

â??We are hemorrhaging faculty. Itâ??s directly impacting the quality of education,â? ASM representative Jeffrey Wright said. â??Somethingâ??s got to give. Students on this campus who can be giving more should be giving more.â?

While ASM supports the initiativeâ??s vision, the group has lingering questions about how the initiative will operate if passed by the UW System Board of Regents in May.

The Associated Students of Madisonâ??s Student Council voted Wednesday to partially endorse Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s budget initiative to raise student tuition Wednesday.

The council decided on only a partial endorsement for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates in an effort to ensure all students, as well as council members, fully understand the proposal before taking a permanent stance.

After Biddy Martin gives her perspective on why the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates is necessary, UW students sound off on whether the proposal is right at this point in time. (Video.)

The University of Wisconsinâ??s Undergraduate Initiative seeks to add a tuition surcharge on students from higher-income families to improve the quality and value of undergraduate education and put greater emphasis on need-based financial aid. Chancellor Biddy Martin has encouraged comments and dialogue with students and the community. In fact, thereâ??s an entire website dedicated to the initiative and an online forum where students are encouraged to share their thoughts and vote on the issues that matter most to them.

Noted: The Faculty Senate also discussed Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, which proposes a supplemental tuition increase over the next four years to provide more need-based financial aid and increase academic resources available to students.

According to a university publication, UW awarded $5.7 million in need-based grants to undergraduates for the 2006-07 academic year, the lowest need-based financial aid of all Big Ten universities.

Martin said the practice of using tuition for financial aid is standard at other universities and thinks the initiative would help the university continue to provide high-quality education at an affordable price.

The state of Wisconsin has built a tremendous resource in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Even when the economy slows â?? as it has in the past â?? our education and research continue moving us forward. Weâ??ve pushed the boundaries of discovery and given the state a value worth more than just dollars and cents.

But, weâ??ve faced financial shortfalls for several years. Budget restrictions limit what we can do and prevent us from keeping pace with the costs of higher education. We need to find new ways to provide a world-class education and compete on a national and international playing field.

Some UW-Madison engineering students say the proposed tuition increase for all undergraduates will hit them especially hard because they already pay a higher rate in the College of Engineering.

â??Itâ??s going to be a double whammy,â? said Adam Wright, a freshman from Green Bay who plans to major in nuclear engineering.

A legislative leader is backing a controversial tuition surcharge for UW-Madison students.

State Senate President Fred Risser says the University is hurting and needs the money. The Madison Democrat says Chancellor Biddy Martin’s plan to impose higher tuition costs on families making more than $80,000 a year seems to make sense. He says taxes are often based on the ability to pay, so a similar system may work for higher education.

Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s new Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, unveiled last Tuesday to students, is designed to improve student services, access to core classes and increase the amount of need-based aid offered to University of Wisconsin students. Martin rightly assesses higher education funding by dividing it into four areas: federal, state and private dollars in addition to tuition money. As state support continues to slip, she is correct in turning to the two sources of money that are out of the hands of politicians and bureaucrats and rather largely in our control â?? tuition and private donations â?? in order to fund the initiative.

Opening up yet another university e-mail, I was initially disappointed to find a hidden message from Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??weâ??re jacking up your tuition. They call it â??The Madison Initiative for Undergraduatesâ? when the initiative is to charge us more.

For obvious reasons, Martin does not want to frame her plan as what it isâ??an intentional tuition increase for students. There would be considerably more attentionâ??and outrageâ??if this idea were sold to us sans the glittery, wonderful-sounding name.

Despite the unnecessary marketing maneuver, this tuition hike will benefit every Badger.

Tough recipes for tough times. Except in academia.

When Gov. Jim Doyle proposed a leaner budget for state operations, it included cuts of $63.4 million for the University of Wisconsin-Madison over the next two years.

That seemed in line with cuts to state agencies and the idea that in difficult economic times, there has to be some belt-tightening across the board.

But UW-Madison wants to take a few notches off that scrimping with a new plan called the â??Madison Initiative for Undergraduates.â?

When Chancellor Biddy Martin introduced her new Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, she did so in front of dozens of University of Wisconsin student leaders, including members of this editorial board. Instead of holding a press conference with solely university administrators, legislative leaders and other supporters, Martin opened the doors of her home to hold informal roundtable discussions on her innovative plan.

This signaled an important part of Martinâ??s plan â?? incorporating students, answering their questions, hearing their praise and receiving their critiques. She fielded initial support and resistance from students at the dinner and devoted herself to listening more.

None of us looks forward to tuition hikes, especially since all too often the benefits appear intangible or altogether nonexistent.

Tuition will rise this coming year, that much is a given regardless of which UW System university you attend. At UW-Madison, tuition will rise even with a supplemental charge under Chancellor Martinâ??s recently proposed Madison Initiative for Undergraduates.

The initiative, which would increase tuition by an additional $250 per year for in-state students and $750 per year for out-of-state students and would also be matched dollar for dollar by private fundraising, is pitched as a â??pledge to quality, value and affordability.â? Many probably react with the same instinctive question upon hearing the initiative: â??Just how does a tuition hike equate to affordability again?â?

A state lawmaker says the UW-Madison is trying to “soak” students with a proposed tuition surcharge.

State Representative Scott Suder says the plan to charge students an extra $250 a year, if their family makes more than $80,000 a year, amounts to a tax on students. He says it’s not fair to raise the expectations of what students have to pay, after they’ve already started attending the school.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison might be called a victim of its own successes. The stateâ??s flagship institution has recruited prominent faculty, but has been forced to enter bidding wars with wealthy private institutions just to retain them. On top of that challenge, budget cuts and cost increases have made it difficult for the university to fill positions vacated by retiring baby boomers, leaving faculty lines open and forcing the university to cut course offerings.

The challenges facing Wisconsin are systemic, and they have only been exacerbated by the economic downturn, according to Biddy Martin, who was named chancellor a little more than six months ago.
â??The traditional revenue sources havenâ??t been able to keep pace with the cost of higher education, certainly not at a major research university,â? Martin said.

Students and staff raised questions and concerns at a campus forum Monday regarding the University of Wisconsinâ??s initiative to increase tuition.

The tuition increase is an effort to fund more tenure-tracked staff as well as other projects to keep improving the university.

During the event sponsored by the Associated Students of Madison, Chancellor Biddy Martin addressed student issues and explained in detail the reasons behind the increase.

Chancellor Biddy Martin and the Associated Students of Madison will create a student oversight committee to help implement the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, Martin announced Monday at a forum about the initiative.

â??Iâ??d like to get their advice in advance of making decisions about expenditures, and let them be the messengers to the campus,â? Martin said.

ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand said the committee will likely operate through the Shared Governance Committee of ASM. While seats on the committee will be limited in number, Wiegand said any student will be able to apply.

University of Wisconsin students expressed both concern and support Thursday at the first of two campus forums on Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, which would increase tuition, financial aid and academic services for students.

The forum focused on student perspectives with prominent issues being the transparency of initiative fund spending, how students are supposed to pay the tuition increase and the voice of students in the spending process.

The initiative is focused on adding faculty to the College of Letters and Science, which has lost 65 to 70 professors since 2004, Martin said.

UW-Madison’s Chancellor wants to make Wisconsinâ??s flagship university more affordable for low and middle income studentsâ?¦by raising tuition.

Chancellor Biddy Martin says the University has far less need-based financial aid than any other Big 10 university, with $20-million in unmet aid every year. To close that gap, the Chancellor’s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates is calling for a $250 annual increase in tuition over the next four years for in-state residents, and $750 annually for out-of-state students. Martin says the increase would not affect students whose families make $80,000 or less.

â??Itâ??s going to be harder for low and middle income families to send students to UW-Madison in these times than it already was,â? says Martin. â??Our students need even better preparation for these challenging times and the economy they face as graduates than they have ever needed.â?

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin explained her newly proposed initiative to students and listened to their feedback at a forum Thursday.

The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates would propose a supplemental charge in tuition to improve educational quality for undergraduates while helping to make UW-Madison affordable to all students.

Chancellor Biddy Martin unveiled a bold plan that would raise the tuition bills of most UW-Madison students in an effort to preserve the quality of the institution, while also making more need-based financial aid available to those who are being priced out of the state’s flagship university.

“Her honeymoon is over now,” said Noel Radomski, director of the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, a think tank on campus. “She’s putting out a bold proposal. But this is a very good service, and I truly mean that, to put this out on the table for the public, the students, the faculty and staff to look at.”

The Critical Badger picked up on the Madison Initiative. Some good criticism by â??Country Bobâ? in the comment minefield. This caught my eye:

$80,000 is very arbitrary, and doesnâ??t take into account a studentâ??s expected financial contribution (EFC). A family with two kids in college making $82,000 per year is much different than a family with one kid making $79,000 per year.

Totally true! But with a little work the details can be sorted out â?¦ but the devil is in the details. Seems like things are moving in a positive direction at UW after more than a few years of asking each other what we should do.

A proposed surcharge would raise UW tuition $1000 for instate students and $3000 for out of state students by the year 2013.

The increases will be phased in over the next four years. Instate students will pay $250 more a year during that time, while out of state students will pay $750 more.

“When this proposal is fully implemented in four years, tuition and fees at UW-Madison will continue to be among the lowest in our peer group, defined as the Big Ten,” reasoned Biddy Martin, UW Madison chancellor.

The school hopes the increase will fill in a $20 million dollar annual budget gap. The ultimate goal is for the money to increase the quality of education while making the university more affordable to lower income students.

In wake of the announcement of an initiative that would increase tuition, financial aid and academic services for University of Wisconsin students, Chancellor Biddy Martin will host a forum tonight to field questions, comments and concerns of students and other community members.

The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates would increase in-state tuition by $250 and out-of-state tuition by $750 per year over a four-year period, after which rates will top out at $1,000 and $3,000, respectively, more than current rates.

The funding brought in by the initiative would allow for increased financial aid, the restoration of faculty seats and the improvement of studentsâ?? academic experiences.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin on Wednesday proposed increasing undergraduate tuition at the state’s public flagship school by $250 to $750 per year for four years to pay for increases in financial aid for needy students and to add faculty and student services in high-demand areas.

The plan, dubbed the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, relies on more affluent families and private donors to subsidize financial aid for lower-income students and improvements to undergraduate education at a time when Gov. Jim Doyle is calling for budget cuts throughout the university system.

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin reiterated her new initiative for increasing tuition and financial aid to students, faculty and staff in a news conference Wednesday at Bascom Hall.

If passed by the UW System Board of Regents, Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates would result in a possible $40 million increase to tuition and financial aid over the next four years.

Martin said she hopes her plan will better prepare students for the current state of the economy.

â??This has to be addressed now, not despite the terrible economic circumstances â?¦ but because of them,â? she said.

At a meeting with student leaders Tuesday, University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin took the first 6 1/2 months of her term spent fact-finding and listening and turned it into a bold proposal to increase funding to attract tenured faculty, need-based financial aid and student services â?? calling it the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates. The plan would institute a gradual increase in tuition costs over the next four years â?? in-state students would pay an extra $250 per year every year while the increase would be $750 for out-of state students. After four years, this would mean an increase of $1,000 from current levels for in-state students and an increase of $3,000 in out-of state tuition.

In her first significant action since taking the helm at Wisconsin’s flagship university, UW Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has announced a new initiative, which she calls a major effort to preserve the quality of an education there, and improve its affordability.

Most University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduates would eventually pay $1,000 more per year under a long-term plan outlined Wednesday to improve quality and increase financial aid.

Undergraduates from Wisconsin would pay a $250 supplemental tuition charge starting next fall while nonresidents would be hit with a $750 charge. The charges would increase by the same amounts the following three years – for a total in the 2012-2013 school year of $1,000 for residents and $3,000 for nonresidents.

Students from families that earn $80,000 or less – about 6,500 of the schoolâ??s 29,000 undergraduates – would receive enough financial aid to offset the increases.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is proposing a four-year plan to increase undergraduate tuition to maintain the school’s quality.

Martin wants students from Wisconsin to pay a supplemental tuition charge of $250 starting next school year. The charge would grow by $250 per year through 2013.

Out-of-state students would pay a $750 supplemental charge next fall, and it would increase by that amount through 2013.

Those charges would be on top of any statewide tuition increase.

Six months into her tenure, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin announced a plan Wednesday that would essentially levy a surcharge on undergraduate students from higher-income families, responding to what she called an â??urgentâ? need to improve affordability and the quality of undergraduate programs.

After listening to students, parents, alumni and others over the past few months, Martin said sheâ??s repeatedly heard that class sizes are getting too big, too many classes are taught by non-tenured faculty and access to high-demand courses and majors is difficult.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Carolyn “Biddy” Martin outlined some goals and priorities she believes are important to the future success and health of the university during a 45-minute speech Thursday night at the Kohl Center.

Martin, who replaced John Wiley as chancellor on Sept. 1, spoke to a crowd of about 2,000 during an event titled “On, Wisconsin! A Great University and its Friends Welcome Chancellor Martin.”

First, Martin said it’s vitally important to make UW-Madison affordable for students of all economic backgrounds. That, however, does not mean she plans to slash tuition — or even keep the price of attending the UW flat.