The Board of Regents will begin discussing a proposal today by the Carlson School of Management asking for permission to charge an extra $2,000 annually for tuition. A vote on the matter will take place next spring. Currently, the University of Minnesota is the only Big Ten school without differential tuition for its business school. The change will undoubtedly have lasting effects on the University as a whole âÄî the board will have to rewrite policy. Overall though, this will be a welcome change âÄî with some caveats.

The extra charge in tuition should be completely transparent about precisely where the extra tuition will go. As administrative costs rise at the University, we should support the extra charge only if itâÄôs used for the right reasons. The higher tuition should directly benefit the students paying extra.

As a land-grant institution, President Eric Kaler has admitted that the core charter of the school is to educate any and all eager Minnesotans. The proposed increase in scholarship funds that will go along with the tuition increase should be monitored in an open and clear manner to ensure that students are minimally affected due to the increase and no one is kept out based on ability to pay.

In reality, the University does effectively have differential tuition through greatly differing school fees every semester. However, to change the rules to have these differences clearly in the open with transparent processes is a welcome policy change.

The Board of Regents should agree to these changes and ensure that Carlson School is kept honest through the whole process and that they stick to their word by putting the extra money toward faculty.