Grad students reject 'decoupling' proposal
The Graduate Professional Council rejected a resolution requesting that the Board of Curators allow MU to recommend its own tuition.
Published Sept. 9, 2005
Students with the Graduate/Professional Council's General Assembly rejected a resolution in support of individualizing MU's budget from the three other UM system campuses, also known as "decoupling," on Tuesday.
The resolution requested that the UM system Board of Curators "allow each campus the opportunity to create and implement their own tuition models."
The Board of Curators sets tuition for all four UM system campuses.
GPC President Mark Beard said many opponents' main concern was that establishing separate rates within the UM system could cause tuition prices to rise.
The resolution's supporters said because of MU's size, the campus needs its own financial model separate from the system's smaller campuses. The supporters said the new tuition policy would allow MU's budget to expand to meet the campus' needs.
The main concern was that decoupling from the UM system would lead to a rise in tuition prices for both incoming and graduate students.
Beard, who is one of the authors of the resolution, said that though he supported the resolution, he appreciated the General Assembly's input.
"It was not a hostile atmosphere," he said. "It allowed the General Assembly to be educated and to discuss the issues at hand."
Although exact numbers are not known, Beard said there were people on both sides of the issue and the tuition task force could design a better resolution to match graduate students' demands.
Beard said he would seek feedback from students on both sides and said he hoped to find a compromise in the future.
"I appreciated the comments," Beard said. "Even though the resolution didn't pass, we gained a better perspective of student concerns."
After hearing different speakers at the meetings, many students believed the "decoupling" policy gave a budget-free reign to climb as needed, with little or no control, Beard said.