The Idaho State Board of Education (IdSBoE) had their regular April board meeting on Thursday and discussed a new Meat Science and Innovation Center, tuition and fees and an athletics update.
Tuition and Fees:
Undergraduate and Graduate tuitions and fees are not increasing per the agreement among all higher education presidents, announced earlier this year. The University of Idaho has requested an increase to professional and self-support fees, according to the agenda.
The increases are for two professional programs and two self-support programs through UI, Trina Mahoney, assistant vice president for university budget and planning said.
The law professional fee is increasing by $40 which is a 3% increase. It is now $12,884 per year.
“The professional fee for law requests a 4% increase to help stabilize funding for the College of Law and address critical needs within that college related to its operations in Boise and meet requirements of the American Bar Association,” Mahoney said.
The Art and Architecture professional fee is also increasing $40 to now be $1,390 per year.
“For Art and Architecture is a 3% increase to address inflationary cost increases related to their studios and technology,” Mahoney said.
The McCall Outdoor School of Science is asking for two of their self-support programs for an increase Mahoney said.
The Environmental Education and Science Communication Self-Support program will increase to $17,936 per year which is an increase of $352. The Master of Natural Resource Self-Support Program fee is increasing $444 to now be $22,688 per year.
“These are both located at the McCall field campus and these cost increases are to cover the increased cost of operating that campus,” Mahoney said.
Meat Science and Innovation Center
During the IdSBoE meeting as the Regents of the University of Idaho to allow UI to start planning the building of a new Meat Science and Innovation Center on the Moscow campus.
Brian Foisy, vice president of finance and administration, said the building’s estimated cost for the total project is around $8 million.
“The request before the board today is for authorization to plan and design the proposed meet Science and Innovation Center facility, our request is to spend at this stage, only $850,000 for the anticipated costs for architectural and engineering services, and other planning, such as survey and geothermal investigation and design phase contingency allowances,” Foisy said.
Foisy said they have raised about $5 million of the $8 million. The remaining amount will be raised during the planning process, Foisy said. UI is not expected to start construction until about June of 2023.
Athletics
Athletics Gender and Equity Reports have been required after a 2016 decision by IdSBoE so institutions have a method for them to report where they stand, according to the agenda.
“University of Idaho does not report compliance in any of the three tests,” according to the agenda.
UI is planning to do the following to become in compliance: Roster management, coaches and sports programs can offer the maximum scholarship offered by the NCAA and implemented a weekly scheduling meeting.
There are three parts to the test according to the background section of the agenda. These are the level of competition must accommodate the students’ interest and abilities with three factors, the second part is financial assistance for these students and the last part focuses on benefits, opportunities, and treatments afforded to the sports be equivalent.
The first part has three subcategories for the institutions to factor in.
These factors are:
- Participation opportunities for student athletes are substantially proportionate to enrollment.
- Can the institution show a history and continuing practice of program expansion in response to that program’s student’s developing interests?
- The last one is if the institutions have been fully and effectively accommodating to the program when the institution cannot show a continuation of program expansion.
The second part is financial assistance, and it must be proportional, and institutions can have a 1% variation in financial aid.
The last part is about benefits, opportunities and treatments afforded to sport participants. These must be equivalent but do not have to be identical. It includes equipment, supplies, scheduling and travel expenses.
Compliance in the last part is measured program wide, not on a sports-by-sports basis.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected]