University of New Mexico’s financial and enrollment officials have proposed to the Board of Regents that the University shift online course fees from students taking online classes to all students attending UNM.
“The funding source that we are using wasn’t matching up with what the money was being used for. We are charging students $100 for an online course and then we’re taking it and supporting the Learn system so that every student can see their syllabus, course materials and grades online,” said Andrew Cullen, associate vice president of Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis. “We feel that it should be a mandatory fee because all students are benefiting from it.”
The proposal disperses the cost of online classes to all UNM students with a mandatory online delivery fee.
Chaouki Abdallah, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, said the fees pay for the online infrastructure (Learn) and support and will generate around $3 million a year.
“Since the online infrastructure is being used by about 68 percent of the student population and not just those registered in online classes, the proposal advanced by the administration, and by ASUNM and GPSA, is to charge about two-thirds of the cost (around $107 per semester) for all students, and one-third of the cost ($10 per credit hour) to those taking online courses,” he said.
Abdallah said the goal of the proposal is to reduce the cost of taking an online course, thus making the University more competitive in that market.
“If everything remains the same, there will be no extra revenues raised as the amount raised under the proposal remains exactly the same as the current model,” he said. “On the other hand, if enrollment in online courses increases due to the lower cost, then the university will generate more revenues which will then be invested back into the online infrastructure and support.”
Cullen agrees with Abdallah and said the goal was also to “more appropriately fund some base infrastructure that we have at UNM called Learning managing system, to appropriately fund that system with the correct student fees.”
Some students will see a cost increase, others a cost decrease, but the net result on the university budget is zero, he said.
“Thus, any student taking more than 1 online course will see a reduction in their cost of attendance (at least $70/semester), while those taking none will see an increase ($107/semester). Those taking one course online will see an increase of about $30/semester. There will no increased revenues unless the number of students taking online courses grows,” Abdallah said.
Depending on the Board of Regent’s decision, the shift of online fees being spread to all students will either become a “mandatory fee” or will be added to tuition, he said.
“The students requested and the administration agreed that rather than remaining a fee, the cost should be moved into tuition,” Abdallah said. “If the regents agree to move the online fees into the tuition column, then the answer is yes. If they do not, then some scholarships would not pay for them.”
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Whether it ends up being a fee reallocation or moved into tuition is up to the regents, he said.
“The downside of adding the fee in tuition would be that the lottery program is under financial pressure itself. We don’t want to pass the buck to the lottery scholarship, so we believe that it would best be handled as a fee for right now, but there are many opinions to this,” Cullen said.
Abdallah said decisions on this proposal must be made when the budget is approved at the budget summit sometime in April. If so, it will take effect in the fall.
Denicia Aragon is a staff reporter with the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com on Twitter @dailylobo.
