Regents Raise Tuition, Delete Degrees

Increases in tuition and the recreational sports fee, and changes in degrees and departmental alignment were approved Friday by Sam Houston State University's board of regents.

The Texas State University System regents approved the changes at a regular quarterly meeting held in Alpine.

Tuition will increase $7 per semester hour, and the recreational sports fee a total of $4, both taking effect with the 2004 Spring Semester.

James F. Gaertner, SHSU president, told the regents that the tuition increase was needed to provide additional faculty, support staff and technical support personnel for instruction.

Budget reductions passed in the most recent session of the Texas Legislature have left SHSU short of necessary funds to maintain and improve its instructional role, he said. That same legislative session authorized universities to set their own tuition levels, and others have announced increases as well.

The recreational sports fee will increase 10 percent per academic year through the fall of 2007, to a total of $68 per semester. Facilities scheduled for construction or improvement include a new indoor/outdoor swimming pool, a new weight and conditioning room, and development of a recreation area on land near Riverside transferred to SHSU from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Realignment measures approved included moving the Department of Agricultural Sciences and Department of Technology from the College of Education and Applied Science to the College of Arts and Sciences. Agriculture will move effective immediately. Technology will be designated as a program under agriculture, effective in the spring of 2004.

Other changes include splitting the School of Public Communication into a Department of Mass Communication and a Department of Speech Communication, also effective fall semester 2003, subject to approval of the Coordinating Board.

Mass communication will include photography, radio-television, and journalism. Speech communication will consist of the current speech communication program.

The name of the College of Education and Applied Science major in Supervision will become a major in Administration, Plan III and Principal Certification through distance learning effective next spring.

Degree program changes, which were approved, included phasing out two bachelor's and eight master's degrees and addition of three new master's degrees.

All of the degrees to be phased out will not be offered after August 31, 2007, allowing students now in those programs to complete their requirements. All of the programs were affected by low enrollment. Similar programs of study or alternate certification will be offered instead.

The phased-out degrees include Bachelor of Arts in French, Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology, Master of Education in Music Education, Master of Music in Performance, Master of Music in Conducting, Master of Education in Early Childhood, Master of Education in Agricultural Education, Master of Education in Vocational Education, Master of Arts in Industrial Education, and Master of Education in Industrial Education.

The new degrees will be a Master of Public Administration with a major in Public Administration and Master of Arts with major in Speech Communication. All curriculum changes are subject to Coordinating Board approval.

"In times of fiscal restraint, the University has to make some difficult decisions to better serve the student population," said David Payne, vice president for academic affairs.

The new degrees are also expected to increase SHSU's prestige and promote innovative programs, which might attain the designation by the state legislature of "Centers of Excellence."

In other business, the board approved:

• Offering out-of-country study programs in China, Cuba, England, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Poland and Spain;

• Employment of Courtney Harper & Partners of Houston as consultants for a $1.6 million renovation of Estill Residence Hall;

• Employment of E & C Engineers and Consultants of Houston for a $1.9 million expansion of cooling capacity of the East Central Plant;

• Preliminary plans prepared by HMA Consulting, Inc. of Bryan, for a $1.5 million electronic card access system for exterior doors on major buildings and residence halls;

• Purchase of $600,000 in computer equipment for student workstations and faculty;

• Purchase of an almost one-half acre piece of property near the University Health Center for parking.

The university's holiday schedule for the coming academic year will include Labor Day (Sept. 1), Thanksgiving (Nov. 27-28), Christmas (Dec. 23-Jan.1), Martin Luther King birthday (Jan. 19), spring recess for staff (March 19) and Memorial Day (May 31). In lieu of other holidays, individual staff may choose to observe Yom Kippur (Oct. 6), Cesar Chavez Day (March 31), and Good Friday (April 9).

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SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Aug. 22, 2003
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