Tuition to vary for some students at U.

The chance to rake in higher salaries after graduation means some University of Utah students will pay a heftier price tag now to recruit qualified faculty.

A degree from the U.'s business school will now cost students an extra $2,100, about 10 percent more than any other undergraduate degree at the university.

The increase was needed to keep qualified faculty and maintain accreditation for the David Eccles School of Business, university officials said.

But the change in tuition structure to charge more for a specific major has some higher education policy leaders worried the increased cost for a business degree may deter students from entering the program and may spread to other majors with high starting salaries.

"At first it will be business, then it will be other high-cost majors like nursing and engineering," said Joni Finney, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "We're really discouraging people from going into high-demand fields."

Finney added that schools nationally are looking to differential tuition to combat lagging funding from the state without burdening the entire student body. That trend is a "slippery slope," she warned, that allows schools to sidestep the traditional avenue of trimming back to fund top priorities.

U. leaders say they need the increased revenue — estimated at about $1.5 million a year — to compete nationally for faculty. The David Eccles School of Business got a warning to increase the number of qualified faculty in its latest accreditation, said David Pershing, U. vice president of academic affairs.

"Frankly, what it came down to was that our peer schools are all doing it and we just can't compete," Pershing said. "A business degree is not in any sense better than a philosophy degree. It's just a market issue."

While the U. has traditionally charged varying tuition rates for master's level courses, the hike in business tuition is the first undergraduate differential. Each credit hour for upper level business classes will be an extra $35 next year and an extra $50 by 2008.

The Board of Regents approved the tuition structure last week, with a word of caution from regent Michael Jensen not to "open the barn door" on varying rates.

Pershing told education leaders that he doesn't expect a flurry of differential tuition requests but added it could happen in select majors where national trends are shifting toward higher tuition.

"You could get to a situation where if you don't keep this under control basically only wealthy students can afford professions with high salaries. That's unacceptable," Pershing said.