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Undergraduate Council discusses UH costs, SAT

By Matt Dulin
The Daily Cougar

Echoing concerns voiced by John Rudley at the faculty senate meeting, Ed Apodaca, associate vice president for enrollment management, told the Undergraduate Council on Wednesday that the trend of tuition and fee increases was troubling and that "education should be affordable."

Nathan Lindstrom/The Daily Cougar

A report Apodaca distributed to the council broke down the average cost of a UH education.

A full-time commuter student can expect to pay $12,000 a year to attend UH, he said. An on-campus student pays $15,500 a year, while out-of-state students shovel out $26,000. The breakdown he presented also indicated that "independent" students ­ such as those who rent apartments ­ pay approximately $18,000 for an education. These totals include miscellaneous costs such as travel and living expenses.

To buffer these high costs, Apodaca said about 60 percent of students receive part of the $200 million dedicated to financial aid.

Despite rising costs, he said, enrollment is up because more students are sticking around.

"I think itis reflective of the kind of quality education weire providing here," Apodaca said.

Apodaca urged faculty leaders to preserve as many course openings as possible in light of the budget cuts that could cause larger sections and a reduction in class offerings.

Elaine Charleson, associate vice president for academic affairs, said the deans are committed to maximizing course allocations but that larger sections could be expected.

In committee reports, Apodaca said plans were in place to have a College Board representative on hand to answer questions about how the changes to the SAT I exam might effect admissions requirements. The new exam will be administered in Spring 2005, so entrance requirements will have to be posted before administrators know how well they can expect students to perform on the exam.

He also proposed that the Academic Policies and Procedures Committee, of which he is a member, take the opportunity to review and revise the current admission standards, possibly making them more selective.

He also expressed a desire to create one admission standard for the University as a whole, as opposed to "five or six different criteria" used by each department.

"This is an opportunity to make all these changes at once," he said.

In other council business, Nancy Graves, an associate professor of hotel and restaurant management, was re-elected chair of the Undergraduate Council. 
 

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