ITEM 116-2802-R0702

September 19-20, 2002

ITEM 116-2802-R0702   Authorization to Offer Access at 150 Percent of Resident Tuition in Programs with Excess Capacity to Canadians from the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan; Montana State University-Northern

THAT: The Board of Regents of Higher Education authorizes Montana State University-Northern to offer access to Canadians from the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan in programs with excess capacity at a rate of 150% of resident tuition.

EXPLANATION: Two years ago a team of administrators from MSU-Northern visited with several Alberta Colleges (Olds, SAIT, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat). The presidents of those schools were very supportive of developing 2 plus 2 articulation agreements with Northern and were concerned with the barrier created by the cost for a Canadian student to attend Northern. At the current exchange rate, it would cost a Canadian student $16,132 CAN in tuition and fees to attend a year (two semesters) at Northern.

Before the rise in exchange rates and tuition prices Northern averaged 40 Canadian students annually, most likely because it is the closest US public university to Canada. The articulation agreements with Canadian schools and the reduced fee structure for Canadian students are both critical elements to the success of our Canadian recruiting efforts. This new Canadian tuition rate will be available to all Canadians from the listed Provinces and will not be limited to only students transferring to Northern under one of these articulation agreements.

Currently, there are three Canadian students attending Northern in excess capacity programs and paying non-resident tuition. Implementation of this tuition proposal would result in $8,091 less non-resident tuition collections per student during the next academic year. If 10 new Canadian students were to enroll for an academic year, which is what we would expect in the initial year, approximately $42,000 in tuition revenue would be generated. The program would ramp up to a maximum of 63 with additional revenue of $264,000 (see tables).

After evaluating fall 2001 and Spring 2002 enrollment statistics it was determined that the Nursing program is the only program on the Northern campus that does not have excess capacity. All other programs have room for additional students. The following chart outlines how many Canadian students would be allowed to enroll in each of the various programs. These numbers have been established by taking the average student enrollment in each program over the past two academic years and comparing it to enrollment capacity in each program. In determining the number of Canadian students allowed in each program we have ensured that each program has room for growth beyond the additional Canadian students and would evaluate the program annually to be sure that our financial and educational objectives are being met.

Programs with Excess Class Capacity

An analysis of the curriculum of degrees offered at Northern indicates that approximately 40 percent of the credits required to earn the degree are core course offered by the major department while the remaining 60 percent are non-program courses I.E. core classes and general education credits. If a program has excess capacity, students can be added to that program without additional cost in degree program resources. For non-program specific courses, 20-30 new students are required before additional class sections are needed.

As outlined in the following chart using FY 2002 Budgeted numbers, instructional costs are budgeted at $3,176 per FTE. This cost is broken down between program (40%) and non-program (60%) costs. Support and Facility Services are presented to show the overall budgeted cost per FTE.

With Canadian students only enrolling in programs with excess capacity, the only anticipated additional cost would be in non-program areas. With every 20-30 new Canadian students, new non-program sections would need to be added. As is shown in the following financial analysis, the proposed Canadian tuition rate of $4,189 would be adequate to cover the average non-program costs of $1,906 and contribute to the program costs, support and facility costs.

DEFINITION OF COSTS

This initiative would have the following benefits: 

• It will allow us to balance class and program loads for some of our under subscribed programs.

• It will help to maximize the teaching loads of our professors.

• It will improve campus life by increasing the number of students living in our residence halls and using our cafeteria.

• It will allow us to effectively recruit Canadian students.

• It will add cultural diversity to our student population.

• It will add incentive to the 2 plus 2 articulation agreements.

• It will have an economic impact on the Havre community.