Recent budget cuts have led the University of Idaho to examine some of its programs and reevaluate those that are no longer sustainable, including the Tuition Reciprocal Agreement.
The Tuition Reciprocal Agreement waives class tuition for employees and spouses of state agencies and other higher education institutions in the state. Under the old program eligible students paid a $25 fee and $5 per credit for classes they wished to take.
Under the revised program employees have to be accepted into a degree program, and can only take up to six credits a semester. These credits are restricted to traditional classes — no longer including online courses. Spouses are excluded from the new program.
Smith said overall, the changes will affect about 250 people.
“We’ve been providing waivers much like they were our own employees,” Ron Smith, UI vice president of finance and administration said. “It’s not sustainable anymore. It’s a good perk but we can’t use revenues from UI to subsidize anymore.”
Smith said the university has seen forgone revenue amounting to $480,000 a year in the 2011 fiscal year.
“We understand there may be some frustrations from individuals that are using the program now,” Smith said. “We are not cutting anything for UI employees, and we are trying to ease the transition for those in a two-year degree program. But we are not the first institution to make this tough decision. BSU made a similar cut a few years ago.”
Lewis-Clark State College has a similar program, and many of its employees and spouses will be affected by this change.
“It’s a great opportunity to take those classes,” Chet Herbst, LCSC vice president of finance and administration said. “It’s been modified but we really appreciate the opportunity for our employees to take these classes. Our employees take classes ranging a whole gamut. It could be education, physical education, science, anything.”
Herbst said LCSC administrators understand why UI had to cut back the program.
“We understand the pressures that drove this and all of the institutions are in the same place to make sure regular students come first,” Herbst said. “However, it does impact some that can’t break away at the middle of the day. We are hoping we can work with UI on a case-by-case basis (particularly with online courses).”
Smith said there have been several complaints to the provost office concerning the program changes, but the change has been discussed with other institutions since last spring.
“It went into effect this semester, but notifications were sent out in advance,” Smith said.