State College Students May Pay By Major

The state Board of Regents this week will discuss proposals for a new tuition policy for state colleges and universities including one plan to charge students according to their field of study.

Under the proposed policy, students in the more expensive fields of engineering and computer science would have to pay a higher tuition than those in liberal arts, according to Roger Schinness, vice chancellor for academic affairs on the board. He said that such a policy has never before been adopted.

According to board member Ray Stata, the president of a Norwood, Mass., high-tech firm who made the proposal, the program would improve the quality of education in those areas by increasing funds for equipment. Schinner opposes the plan, saying that the policy would be divisive to professors, whose relative salaries could come under consideration and students, who might choose majors based on cost.

"We try to consider higher education as an entity; we try to minimize the divisions between majors," he said.

The plan would affect all state higher education institutions in Massachusetts, including fifteen community colleges, nine state colleges, and three state universities.

Currently, tuition varies according to institution. Costs range from $634 at the community colleges to $1129 at the University of Massachusetts, Schinness said.

Officials contacted yesterday at the schools are skeptical that their individual departments would ever receive the extra tuition raised.

"Tuition doesn't stay at the college, which makes tuition increases a sore point," said Greg Stone, public relations director at Southeastern Massachusetts University.

He said that colleges could only hope to receive similar budget increases. "There is no direct relation," Stone explained.

Although officials dislike the implications of the differential tuition plan, they agreed that they need more money to keep science departments up-to-date.

"We are training students for tomorrow, not even for today, but our equipment is either worn out or out of date," said Stone. He explains that many of the state colleges, including Southeastern Massachusetts University and the University of Lowell were built in the mid-Sixties, and have had no new equipment since that time.

The differential tuition proposal was one of several made at a board meeting Wednesday. Another proposal would cause all students to pay a set percentage of their cost to the state regardless of major.

Schinness estimates that each student at the University of Massachusetts costs the state $4700, at Lowell $3200.

Currently, the students pay between 25 to 30 percent of that cost. The proposal would demand that they pay 30 percent across the board.