May 23, 2002
Tuition up, no pay increase in final budget
The UW Board of Regents unanimously approved a budget last Friday that will include no salary increases and higher tuition.
The budget, which takes effect on July 1, was the culmination of a process that began before the legislative session opened in January. After making its case to lawmakers and the governor, the UW still suffered a $26 million cut in state funds. That put the University’s governing board in a tough spot.
“These are difficult times,” Regent Constance Proctor said last Friday before voting to accept the budget. “None of us is pleased with the decisions we’ve had to make.”
Those decisions included no salary increases for fiscal year 2003, despite the fact the UW is behind peer institutions in terms of faculty and staff pay. This will be the first time since fiscal year 1996 that no pay increase has been given.
“We recognize that salaries are well behind our peers and we’re grateful to the faculty who stay nevertheless,” Regent Shelly Yapp said.
Yapp said the budget was not a retreat from the goal of making salaries at the UW more competitive with peers. Rather, it was the result of difficult circumstances.
In addition to foregoing the pay increases, Regents relied on their increased tuition authority to help fill the gap left by the state’s lawmakers. The Legislature gave higher-education governing boards one-year authority to raise undergraduate resident tuition by up to 16 percent and there were no limits placed on other tuition brackets.
The board voted for the full increase in resident undergraduate tuition, which means residents will pay $4,167 to attend the UW in 2002–03. That’s up from $3,593 for the 2001–02 academic year. The largest percentage increase was for resident law tuition, which will shoot up by 50 percent, from $6,521 to $9,761.
