The education committee of the U-W Board of Regents has approved allowing more out-of-state students to enroll in the state university system. Advocates say it will actually allow more state residents to attend U-W Madison. According to regent Jeffrey Bartell, the trade off works like this. By raising the cap from the current 25-percent for out-of-state undergraduate admissions to 27-and-a-half percent, the UW system's flagship campus in Madison will be able to admit 200 more Wisconsin residents. "There is a financial benefit to the university bring in a non-resident students because each of those students pays tuition that pays tuition that supports at least two resident students," he says. "So there is a real benefit to that." Non-resident tuition is about double what is for in-state residents. The U-W's policy of controlling the enrollment of out-of-state students was created in 1966. UW system Vice President Mark Nook says the purpose was to ensure a diverse student body. At Thursday's meeting, Nook read from testimony presented by faculty members to the regents in 1966. "A mere handful of out of state students would not provide this broadening influence," Nook read. "Each social group each cluster each class partaking in an argument should have it's contingent of people from out of the state if our students are to get the most from the experience." The full Board of Regents will vote Friday on raising the non-resident admission cap. Regent John Drew supports the move, but he also urged the board to consider raising tuition rates for both non-resident and international students to help cover the cost of admitting more in-state students.
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