THE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies has approved a new formula for the calculation of tuition fees. The approved formula merges the costs of all faculties by campus, except for Law, Engineering and Medical Sciences, to obtain the same fee for these faculties. The new fee structure will come into effect from the academic year 2001/2002.
Under the new arrangement, a full-time student will be charged a fixed fee, which will entitle him/her to register for a range of credits. Registration for credits in excess of the full time load will attract a charge for each additional credit for which the student is enrolled. Part-time students will be charged on a course/credit basis.
The approval of the new fee structure comes against the background of a concern within the university at the disparity in fees across faculties, which resulted from the faculty-based method of calculation which was approved by the University Council in 1993. By this method, considerable cross-faculty variations in tuition fees have resulted because of factors such as the uneven percentage growth in student enrolment by faculty and differences in the cost structures of the faculties. Concern has also been expressed about the adverse effect of the level of tuition fees on enrolment in some faculties.
The new formula takes into account an earlier agreement that tuition fees at each campus should account for twenty per cent of the economic cost. To date, this has been achieved at the Cave Hill and St. Augustine Campuses only. At the Mona Campus, tuition fees have been at the level of 17.5% for the past two years.
The new formula will therefore bring the Mona Campus in line with what obtains at the other two campuses.
The university recognises that the merging of the calculation of fees for the different faculties will result in the tuition fees for some faculties being increased while the tuition fees for others will decrease.
Recognising that other factors such as the earning power of graduates and market demand could have some bearing on the determination of tuition fees, the university has agreed that the new formula for the calculation of tuition fees should be reviewed in depth for the future.
