The College of Engineering will become the second school at UW-Madison to increase its tuition costs for declared majors this fall, following the Wisconsin School of Business’ increase in fall 2007.

The UW System Board of Regents approved the increase at a meeting in June, as well as a 5.5 percent tuition increase for undergraduate students at its four-year schools.

On top of a $348 undergraduate tuition increase this year, UW-Madison engineering majors will begin paying an additional $300 per semester, which will jump to $500 per semester in 2009-’10 and $700 per semester in 2010-’11.

According to Paul Peercy, dean of UW-Madison’s College of Engineering, the differential tuition is key to improving the quality of education in undergraduate engineering. The increase is also a step in making UW-Madison’s engineering program more competitive with other Big Ten schools that already have a higher tuition.

“Every college in the Big Ten had this differential tuition,” Peercy said. “It’s a high recognition to have an engineering background; there’s a need for [engineers] … If our engineering school has a better reputation, then students are going to want to come to it.”

According to a university statement, tuition in the engineering programs at Penn State University, the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan was more than twice UW-Madison’s tuition.

Although students may not be happy about the increase in tuition, Peercy is adamant the tuition increase is the best way for the engineering college to acquire necessary changes.

Josh Thornton, senior co-president of the Polygon Engineering Student Council, agrees the increase is necessary to improving students’ education. “I feel like we’ve made the right decisions. We’ve taken the right steps to eventually surpass those engineering programs at other schools,” Thornton said.

Although costs are rising, Peercy told the Regents any student who wants to major in engineering would not be overlooked due to financial restrictions.