KU in the Capitol: Tuition enhancements boost student hourly wages, advising

At a Nov. 14 news conference, Senior Vice Provost Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett explained how KU would use tuition dollars to improve hourly wages, advising, career counseling and other services for students.

Renovated classrooms, better student hourly wages, tuition waivers for graduate assistants and additional funding for advising and career services are the latest round of improvements that will benefit students thanks to the $8.6 million in revenue generated from the tuition increase that took effect this fall.

Among the projects of the tuition enhancement initiative are:

$150,000 to raise student hourly wages

The starting wage for student hourly workers at KU will increase to $6 per hour beginning in spring 2003. The federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.
Student workers on campus currently making between $6 and $10 per hour can expect a raise of about 50 cents per hour.

$116,000 for additional staff at the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center

The center will be able to add three full-time advisers, a secretary and computers. The additions would help lower the center's student-to-adviser ratio and allow advisers to spend more time with sophomores during the critical transition of choosing a major and applying to a professional school.

Wendy M. Rohleder, pre-law academic adviser in the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center, counsels C'Nea Hatches, a sophomore in communications from Valparaiso, Ind. PHOTO BY R. Steve Dick/University Relations

$185,600 to bring Career Services to all students

This allocation will allow Career Counseling and Planning Services and University Career and Employment Services to work alongside each other in the Burge Union.

Part of the funding will be used to relocate Legal Services for Students to an office on the third floor of the Burge Union. Career Counseling and Planning Services will move into the Legal Services vacancy. The money also will add computers and furnishings to Career Counseling and Planning Services. Next year, the office will hire two additional career counselors.

$500,000 for classroom improvements

Perhaps the most recognizable classroom improvements to result from the tuition enhancements are the renovations of the two auditoria in Wescoe Hall, which recently underwent $157,000 worth of renovations, including installing media equipment and new carpeting as well as painting the walls and reupholstering chairs.

KU administrators are working with faculty to develop a list of additional classroom improvements. Renovations will continue during the Thanksgiving and winter breaks.

$750,000 for tuition waivers for graduate assistants

For the first time in school history, a tuition assistance program for about 300 graduate research assistants, or GRAs, will be offered beginning in the spring 2003 semester.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor David Shulenburger said the tuition assistance program would benefit both graduate researchers and the university.

"Faculty cannot carry out large-scale research projects without having research assistants. It works both ways," Shulenburger said. "You can't really educate doctoral students fully unless they can be involved in these large-scale projects - so there is definitely a synergy involved."

Of the more than 600 GRAs enrolled at KU, many have their tuition costs covered through the grants that employ them. Several agencies, however, stipulate that their grants not include tuition costs for graduate researchers. Officials at the KU Center for Research estimate that the new tuition assistance program will help about 300 GRAs whose tuition is not covered by the grants that employ them. Furthermore, the program will set aside funds to aid about 30 incoming GRAs.

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