Comparative tuition analysis by Chris Barcus News Editor In the October 10, 1988 issue o f U.S. News and World Report 125 o f the nations colleges w ere ranked in five different categories. O f the five, W PI was placed with comprehensive colleges and universities. Require m ents of being placed in the com pre hensive college category is a popula tion of no fewer than 2500 students and awarding more than half o f its bachelor’s degrees in two or more occupational or professional disci plines, such as engineering. The ranking of the schools is done on a quantitative basis, not on opin ions o f those who are conducting the survey. The areas w hich were evalu ated by the selection comm ittee in clude the school’s selectivity, the faculty as well as dollars budgeted per student, resources available for edu cational programs, and the retention
of the students. The pool o f the nations com pre hensive colleges and universities in cludes 399 different institutions. As a result o f the evaluations performed, WPI was ranked fifth in the nation as a com prehensive university. O ther schools in this category include Trinity University in Texas (#2), V illan o va U n iv ersity (# 8), Providence College (#11), and As sum ption College (#18). T he m ajor factor which influ enced the appearance o f W PI in the list is the uniqueness o f the WPI plan. No other university can com pare with the requirem ents fo r g raduation, therefore making WPI stand in a class of its own. In com paring tuition o f the col leges in the list, WPI has the highest tuition, but what has to be taken into consideration is the rest o f the schools are not our competetors. W hen com paring tuition with o u r competetors
for the 1988-89 academic year, out of fifteen institutions which are o f com parative quality, there are only six which have tuition higher than what is being charged by W PI. T w o of our largest competetors, MIT and RPI, have tuitions which were higher than W PI. MIT charged 13,400 for 88-89, while R PI’s tuition was $12,600. These numbers are im portant when increases in tution are in order. For WPI to be considered com petive with other engineering in stitutions the tuition w hich is charged has to be comparable. The goal o f the adm inistration is to keep the tuition o f W PI in the middle o f the group, not too high on the list, but also not at the bottom. T herefore, the increase in tuition for the 89-90 academ ic year is keep ing us in proper standing in relation ship to other schools. The tentative figure for the increase, which will have been voted on by the board of
trustees Sunday, February 26, is 9%, or $13,080. A fter presenting the facts, it is now time to start asking some ques tions and drawing inferences from the material presented. One question which is echoing around students is why to we have to raise tuition just because other schools are doing it? According to President Strauss, we are not raising tuition soley to keep us comparative to our competition, but also so there is extra money to be reinvested back into the institution to im prove the quality o f life. Looking at the other side o f the coin, justifications do not quite cover the 9% increase in tuition. Are we as students seeing a proportional in crease in the quality o f education we are receiving? Instead of applying money to provide entertainment for banquets and flying potential faculty to and from their current place of em ploym ent to view W PI, they
should upgrade life for students on cam pus. A reas of im provem ent w hich would improve education on campus include investing money in instruc tors w ho not only can understand English but can also speak it. The various laboratory spaces on campus for many majors could also have some o f the basic equipm ent upgraded. Afterall, how practical is it to use equipm ent which was outdated during W W II when WPI is suppose to be training individuals for a technical position in society? W PI does have many fine facilities, but it is time to upgrade the basics which are used on a day to day basis. It is time that the administration as well as the board o f trustees start considering the student population when making decisions regarding us. Afterall, they are not the ones who have to find extra sum m er jobs to pay the tuition bills.
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute Volume 17, Number 7 Tuesday, February 28, 1989
Infirmary to change hours (WPI News Release) - During the course of the last few w eeks a decision was made to consolidate services o f fered by the WPI Health Services. Notice has been given that effective July 1, 1989 the WPI Health Services will eliminate evening and weekend hours. Beginning with the first day of A term 1989, the health center will be open from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, five days per week. The center will co n tinue to provide four (4) hours per day o f physician coverage, moving the usual evening hours to the afternoon. While much of the decision to consolidate hours is fueled by finan cial considerations, additional factors include the difficulty to contract with physicians to cover the evenings and the difficulty during the past year to
attract nurses to work evening and weekend shifts. At the present time WPI has full nursing coverage. The change in hours will necessitate the laying o ff of five part times nurses who have capa bly served WPI for up to six (6 ) years. A survey o f local colleges shows that area college health services oper ate anywhere from eight hours per day to maintaining a 24 hour facility. Additionally the level o f service pro vided by each varies greatly. Staffing ranges from one full time nurse at Anna Maria College to four full time nurses plus a secretary/receptionist at Clark University. WPI will staff the center with two full time nurses each day beginning in A term. During the course o f the next few
months the health center staff will be exploring evening and weekend refer rals for students who are unable to wait for scheduled physician hours. These referral lists will be available throughout next year. Additionally Hahnemann Family Health Services with whom W PI contracts for physi cian coverage, will be available on an on-call basis for emergency situ ations. T he W PI adm inistration and Health Service staffs remain com m it ted to providing quality health service for W PI students. W hile the first year of any change can present unpredicted challenges, the staff will make every effort to maintain the quality o f serv ice it has been known for over the years.
RA’s for 89-90 announced by Troy Nielsen Newspeak Staff The Office of Housing and R esi dential Life has released the list o f students that have been selected as Student Hall Directors and Resident Advisors for the 1989-1990 academic year. The Student Hall Directors are M ichael Donahue (Founders Hall), D enise Fortier (Daniels Hall), Anup G hosh (Houses), Patrick Healy (M or gan Hall), Inderpreet Khurana (Riley Hall), and Donna Roche (Stoddard Complex). O f course these people are also R A ’s in their respective build ings. The rest o f the RA staff for next year includes Steve A nderson(*), A rmando Aquino, G ail A uger(*), Michelle Burns(*), Rhodia Christodoulidou(*), Daniel Clark, Steve Collins, David Dickey(*), C hristo pher DiEllio, John Campbell, Ken Campbell(*), Paul G ibbons(*), Brian Gosselin(*), Christine Hajjar, W il liam Harrison, Kate Knapp(*), Eric Lindgren(*), Kawi Lami Neal(*), N an cy M c L a u g h lin , C a th y Pawloski(*), Darilyn Reuter, Lisa Ricker(*), Greg Robichaud, Caren Sarro, Michael Shorr, Rob Tiem an, Jennifer Tobin, Debbie W hitman(*), and Paul Wojciak(*). The (*) indi cates that this person is a returning Resident Advisor. All o f the Student Hall Directors are returning R A ’s also. In case you were wondering, the Student Hall Directors are different from RA’s in that they have certain added responsibilities. These respon-
sibilities include overseeing the RA staff in their building, administrative tasks for their building, term break occupancy sheets, advising the other R A ’s in the building so that they work as a team , building resources for the new R A ’s, and they act as a liaison between students and the office of Housing and Res. Life. This year there are a few changes in the selection process. The overall RA selection process is 3-fold. The first part of the process consists o f an application with questions and essays that convey whether or not the person has the aptitude to be a Resident Advisor. There were a few minor alterations o f questions on the appli cation. The second part o f the selection process was totally changed. Up until now, this part was com posed o f sev eral group discussions that occurred at night in Stratton Hall. There were 3 discussion session w here the par ticipants talked about various situ ations that were given to them. Dis cussions were monitored by members of the Selection staff. A fter reviewing this part of the process, it was found that there was too much time being tied up for these discussions. It was found that some people were not get ting time to say their fair share in these discussion because others would talk too much. To solve this, the staff decided to change the format to a oneday session that involved activities that were supposed to bring out the real RA candidate, and not one that merely said what he felt should be said during discussions. A nother advan-
tage, as told to me by Elizabeth Sinkiewicz, the A ssistant Director of R esi dential Life, was that this session would be more fun and less tedious for the candidates. Each candidate is supposed to display his/her group presentation skills, have one-on-one discussions, and clarify his/her values. T he third part o f the process is basically the same. This section co n sists o f individual interviews o f can didates that have been selected to reach this level.
Future Greek housing by Chris Barcus News Editor WP1 recently released the pre liminary results of the Fraternity housing report. The main issue w hich was addressed involved the condition of the houses in which the m em bers of the Greek system live. The biggest concern to the adm ini stration is that the houses are be tw een 60-90 years old and are o f a w ood-fram e construction w hich constitutes a safety problem. The houses are currently in desperate need o f upgrading and many of the houses do not have funds to do the necessary work. The money problem within the G reek system for im provem ents stems from the fact that they do not have enough money to pay the taxes on the property as well as upgrade. The national charters which back each of the fraternal operations do not have the necessary cash to give to the houses for repairs. Since the condition which the G reeks are living in are not up to current standards on the average, W PI feels as if there is a reduction in the quality o f life compared to other students on campus. Therefore it is W P I’s responsibility to lend a help ing hand to the Greeks.
A s a result o f the study, several possible alternatives were brought up to provide financial assistance to those houses which needed it. Some o f the suggestions include having WPI help finance loans for the houses which are below the market rate, provide college owned hous ing, establish an endow m ent for the Greek system to support upgrading, or to remain status quo. These are preliminary suggestions in regard to future Greek housing and will not be finalized until som etim e in May. A side note to this issue is the current stand the adm inistration is taking toward the Greeks. W ith the reduction in the num ber of students interested in pursuing careers in en gineering, the school is facing a decline in the num ber of students attending. Therefore, they are trying to m ake the school look as m arket able as possible. O ne aspect which has considerable im portance when potential freshmen are trying to find the college they w ant to attend is the Greek system, in the past, the ad ministration has not been extremely supportive of the G reeks, but they may be beginning to realize that their support may help keep WPI going strong through this period o f reduced interest in engineering.
WPI takes award at Harvard UN by Alton Reich Newspeak Staff T he Harvard National Model United Nations was held from Febru ary 16 thru 19 at the Copley Square M arriott in Boston. The WPI Interna tional Relations Council sent a dele gation o f tw elve people to represent both the school and the nation o f Ire land. The participants in the confer ence cam e from over 100 schools, and several countries. The conference is organized and run by Harvard stu d en ts. O v erall, the event ran sm oothly and was an enjoyable expe rience for all involved. T his was the third year that WPI participated in the conference, and also the third year that WPI was rec ognized at the awards ceremony. The group WPI delegation members were: A thena D emetry, Mark Weil, G eorge Rcgnery, Inderpreet Khurana, Naray-
anan Rajan, Jehan Tamboowalla, A l ton Reich, Kevin D oyle, Joseph Baron, Rich M ichalew ich, Agnes C han, and Shilpa Shroff. The winners this year were Narayanan Rajan and Jehan Tam boow alla on the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural C om m it tee. Narayanan Rajan also won last year. The group was prepared to compete in the event because of weekly meetings and research into the topic areas being discussed. The conference is organized like the real UN. Delegations send repre sentatives to the various comm ittees, and there the delegates try to develop mutually acceptable resolutions on the topics being discussed. This y ear’s topics included state sponsored terrorism , mercenaries, denucleariza tion o f Africa, and child labor. All of the com m ittees o f the general assem bly were able to develop resolutions on their topic areas. Due to time
constraints, not all of the resolutions came up before the General A ssem bly. In just a few w eeks, planning will begin for next y ear’s HNM UN when the W PI IRC has to fill out country preference forms for next year.
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IMS ts W0 IBS«JL issue of Newspeak for C Term. Our next issue will be March 28,1989. Have a great spring break! b a
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