Averting discussion of tuition estimates for the 2004-05 school year, the Business and Finance Committee of the UW Board of Regents focused Thursday on maintaining competitive salaries for UW System personnel.
The first recommendation concerned salary increases for seven UW System chancellors who currently net below the legal minimum for their salary ranges. The requested adjustments would cost $57,300, according to statistics presented by committee chair Mark Bradley.
The second, more far-reaching resolution, asked for a 2 percent salary increase per year for everyone employed by the UW System. This pay increase would be added to a 3 percent-per-year salary raise UW System staff are already scheduled to receive during the upcoming biennium.
According to the committee's statistics, the salaries of UW System faculty are currently 6.3 percent behind their peers at comparable institutions while the salaries of UW System academic staff and executives trail by 17 and 16.3 percent respectively.
\We are seriously behind in the markets in which we compete,"" Mark Bradley said.
However, while the Regents discussed the need for UW System salaries to remain competitive, student representatives voiced concern.
UW-Madison junior Josh Healey was disappointed in the board's consideration of salary increases, possibly necessitating a student tuition hike.
""I work twenty hours a week, I am a double major, and I have to decide whether I buy my books or pay my rent,"" Healey said. ""I'm asking you what your priorities are.""
Mark Bradley said the regents would not be making any decision regarding tuition until the state budget, which allocates the amount of money the UW System is to receive, is finalized next summer.
""Who knows if there's even going to be any money in the budget for salary increases at all,"" Doug Bradley said, describing the State's influence on how tuition is determined.
The tuition-related issue that was contested, however, was whether the regents should officially declare their support of a student tuition increase cap of 5 percent. Before the additional 2 percent salary increase, student tuition would only rise 4.3 percent.
However, with the passing of the resolution, student tuition could rise 5.5 percent unless funding from the State or other sources was secured, according to Doug Bradley.
But Doug Bradley also affirmed the Board's dedication to capping student tuition.
""They not only heard the students, they felt their pain,"" he said.
Thursday evening, regents prepared an additional resolution to address this tuition cap. The Business and Finance Committee will propose these resolutions to the complete Board of Regents for implementation today.
