The UW System Board of Regents voted in favor of UW-Platteville’s differential tuition proposal at its April 11 meeting. A fee will be charged to students each semester beginning in Fall 2008.

UW-P students will pay an additional $100 next year, $50 each semester, Frank Moullet, Student Senate president, said. The extra fee will be used for student support services such as retention, tutoring services, mental health services, career services and the new engagement center, which will open in fall 2008.

The proposal was first presented to the Board of Regent’s Business, Finance and Audit Committee on April 10 and passed unanimously. The Board of Regents voted in favor of the proposal by a 17-1 vote, with Thomas Loftus as the only dissenter, Moullet said.

Loftus cited a tuition freeze proposed by United Council as affecting his decision, Moullet said.

“Yesterday, students asked for a tuition freeze, and we know there’s no chance for that. And here we have a tuition increase,” Loftus said in an April 12 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

UW-P is not a member of United Council, Moullet said.

The fee, which was approved by Student Senate, will be 1.9 percent of each student’s tuition, Moullet said. The percentage will apply to full-time and part-time students. Students participating in the Tri-State Initiative will pay 1.9 percent of in-state, undergraduate tuition.

The Regents voiced concern that the proposal would set a precedent for universities requesting differential tuition as an option, Kenny Brotheridge, Student Senate vice president, said.

“We do have checks and balances for the process,” Brotheridge said.

An oversight committee will be formed to examine the differential tuition proposal every year, Brotheridge said. There will also be a review of the proposal every four years to evaluate the use of the money raised through the fee.

“I think a committee will be in place by next fall for sure,” Brotheridge said.

The committee will include members of the student body, faculty and staff and administration. The number of members on the committee has not been determined.

“I’m confident that this is the right decision,” Moullet said.