Credits, Program Length, and Tuition



Federal Compliance

Credits, Program Length, and Tuition

Credits and Program Length

The UW-Madison academic calendar operates on a semester system – a 16-week fall and spring semester and a summer session that includes sessions of varying length, with the 8-week session being the dominant one. The semester length and the assignment of credit hours are established according to practices that are common in higher education, and especially among peer institutions. Faculty guidelines award one credit for 15 hours of lecture, 15 to 30 hours of discussion, or 30 to 45 hours of laboratory, consistent with the Carnegie unit. The university calendar is available through the Secretary of the Faculty

Program length and requirements are consistent with similar programs at peer institutions (generally 120 to 128 credits for undergraduate programs). Detailed information about program length and requirements are communicated to students through descriptions in the Undergraduate Catalog, the Graduate Catalog and in publications of the professional schools. Degree program requirements, including length and curricular details, are determined and approved by program faculty and through a governance process, in keeping with broad program policy set by committees of the faculty, the faculty senate, UW System Administration, and the Board of Regents.

UW-Madison is a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), the American Association of Universities (AAU), the American Association of Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE), the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), and other regional and national organizations that provide venues for the exchange of information that allows UW-Madison to compare standards of academic policies and practices with other similar institutions.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees are set annually by the UW System Board of Regents. Detailed tuition and fee information is available via a variety of publications, among them:

• the Registrar’s web site

• the Data Digest, page 66 and

• the UW System Administration Budget Office (a three-page detailed listing)

Undergraduates in the School of Business and in the College of Engineering pay a differential tuition surcharge to defray the higher instructional costs of these programs and to fund additional academic and student support to assure top-quality programs (see Criterion 2.b.). For similar reasons, master’s level students in the School of Business also pay a tuition surcharge. Law, Medicine (M.D.), Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), and Veterinary Medicine (DVM) professional students pay tuition that exceeds regular graduate tuition because of the high cost of delivering these programs. Peer tuition comparisons is one piece of information used in the tuition setting process to evaluate if tuition is consistent with similar institutions: UW-Madison’s regular undergraduate tuition has been one of the lowest in the tuition peer group for decades (see Data Digest, page 65).

Compliance with Higher Education Reauthorization Act/Title IV

Compliance Considerations Related to the Higher Education Act of 2008. As of August 2008 when the Higher Education Act (HEA 2008) was reauthorized, UW-Madison was in compliance with the Higher Education Reauthorization Act of 1998, with Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (ECASLA), Higher Education Reconciliation Act (HERA) of 2006 and the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (CCRAA) of 2007. Compliance with financial aid provisions is handled by the office of Student Financial Aid. Compliance with student-related IPEDS reporting requirements is coordinated by the Office of Academic Planning and Analysis in collaboration with the Division of Enrollment Management and UW System Administration. Compliance with safety reporting is coordinated by the UW Police Department and the Office of the Dean of Students. Human resources, finance, and budget reporting are handled by the Office of Human Resources and the Budget Office. UW System Administration prepares and submits all IPEDS reports to the US Department of Education on behalf of System institutions.

UW-Madison is actively responding to the numerous new provisions of HEA 2008 that establish new requirements for reporting to the Department of Education through IPEDS, additional requirements for public disclosure of information by the University, and new financial aid provisions. UW-Madison has an established pattern of high levels of disclosure of institutional data and information and we anticipate that the requested information will be provided, as available, according to implementation timetables and protocols that are to be set out by the Department of Education. University personnel also make use of national peer associations and organized groups of counterparts (examples: ACE, AAU, AAUDE, AIR, AAU financial aid directors) to share information and monitor progress to compliance.

The Office of Student Financial Aid (formerly Student Financial Services) assures and maintains the University’s compliance with the Higher Education Act as it relates to financial aid. They hold current copies of all required documentation:

• Program Participation Agreement (PPA),

• Eligibility and Certification Renewal (ECAR),

• Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP),

• Compliance audits performed by Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau to meet USED requirements,

• Annual reports related to Experimental Site participation

Copies of these documents will be available upon request.

UW-Madison’s student loan default rates are among the lowest in the nation, well below the national average. In FY 2006, students borrowing through the Federal Stafford Loan Program had a default rate of 0.3 percent. This compares to the national average default rate of 5.2 percent. UW–Madison’s Federal Perkins Loan default rate for FY 2007 was 1.44 percent; national averages are 7.81 percent. The student loan unit of the Bursar’s office and the student loan servicing unit of the Office of Financial Aid make efforts to provide educational materials that make the payment process easy to understand. The bursar’s staff handles exit interviews and billing for all loans except those in the Federal Family Educational Loan Program (FFELP), and the student loan servicing staff work with former students whose loans other than FFELP become delinquent.

Clery Act/Campus Safety Information. UW-Madison complies with federal requirements for the disclosure of rates of campus crime. The annual Campus Safety report, which includes information required under the Clery Act, is posted at a dedicated Campus Safety web site. The Campus Safety project is a collaborative effort of the UW Police Department, the Office of the Dean of Students, University Health Services, and the Employee Assistance Program.

Distance Learning

In 2006, UW-Madison was granted permission to implement distance-delivered programs without prior HLC approval. The following programs are offered via distance-delivery and the list is limited to programs that are delivered 100% asynchronously.

• BS - Nursing (Collaborative Program) (Internet)

• Doctor of Pharmacy (non-traditional) (Internet)

• MA in Library and Information Studies (Internet)

• Master of Engineering - Engineering (Internet)

• MS in Electrical Engineering (Video/CD ROM)

• MS in Manufacturing Systems Engineering (Internet)

• MS in Mechanical Engineering (Video/CD ROM)

• Certificate in Laboratory Quality Management (Internet)

Off-Campus Locations

UW-Madison’s Status of Affiliation requires prior Higher Learning Commission approval for new program sites. Course locations must be reported to the Higher Learning Commission at the time of the annual report. Like many universities, UW-Madison developed a heightened awareness of these requirements in 2007 due to communiqués from the Higher Learning Commission, scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Education, and increased interest by faculty in establishing off-campus sites. To the extent possible under current Higher Learning Commission policy, UW-Madison requests that the Status of Affiliation be modified to provide the maximum flexibility in establishing degree program sites.

UW-Madison requires governance approvals for program sites and course locations. Program sites also need UW System Administration and Board of Regents approval. Policy guidelines for approval are posted at the University Academic Planning Council web site. These issues are described under Criterion 5.d.

In-State Program Sites

BS-Nursing, School of Nursing “Western Campus” site, Gunderson-Lutheran Clinic, La Crosse Wisconsin. Students are accepted into the BS-Nursing program at the junior-level; they may choose to apply to enroll at the UW-Madison campus in Madison or at the La Crosse program site. The program was first implemented in 2001. In 2007, 24 of UW-Madison’s 150 BS-Nursing graduates completed their studies at the La Crosse program site. In spring 2008, 47 of 720 students in the BS-Nursing program were enrolled at the La Crosse program site.

In-State Course Locations

None

Out-of-State Program Sites

None

Out-of-State Course Locations

The School of Library and Information Studies established UW-Madison’s first out-of-state course location when they made courses available to working librarians seeking to upgrade their skills at the Prairie Area Library System in Rockford, Illinois. Two core courses for the MS-Library and Information Studies program are delivered through video-conferencing with a UW-Madison-supported instructor on location. Students complete the two core courses this way, and complete the rest of the program through other on-line, asynchronous distance course formats.

The Law School established UW-Madison’s first international course location at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China, to serve students in the Master of Legal Institutions program. Starting in fall 2009, students have the option of taking up to 11 credits of the 24-credit program at the course location in Shanghai. (All students in this program are international students and are not eligible for any federal financial aid.) This course location was approved in May 2008 and will be reported to HLC in the annual reporting cycle in February 2009.

Record of Student Complaints

Students have and use a variety of approaches to communicate concerns, ideas, and complaints at every level of the university. Many of these routes are informal. Formal routes include those described below. For details on how the University addresses complaints and concerns, see Criterion 1.e. and the Institutional Integrity Theme Team report.

The UW-Madison Office of the Chancellor and Office of the Provost keep a log of all mail they receive in a searchable database. Included in these records are communications from students about concerns or complaints. Typically, student concerns are conveyed to the Office of the Dean of Students or other appropriate units for follow-up and resolution.

Formal routes by which students may lodge complaints include the Office for Equity and Diversity (), which has responsibility for affirmative action and equal employment opportunity compliance, and the Office of the Dean of Students, which oversees the student academic and non-academic code of conduct (). Information is communicated to students about expectations for conduct and student rights and responsibilities in the Undergraduate Catalog, and Graduate Catalog. For academic concerns, students are directed to initiate a complaint with the instructor, and subsequently make appeals to the department chair and then to the school/college dean if the concerns are not addressed adequately.

University Advertising and Recruiting Materials

HLC policy requires that when the University makes reference to its affiliation with the Commission it include the Commission’s address, website, and phone number. At the time of the 1999 site visit we increased attention to proper reference to the Commission. We have given renewed attention to the inclusion of the local phone number and the URL and reminded our colleagues, through the Campus Communicators Group, about what information to provide. Accreditation is referenced in the Undergraduate Catalog, the Graduate Catalog, some financial aid materials, and in the Data Digest.

Dual and Specialized Accreditation

The University does not hold dual-accreditation. Several programs maintain specialized accreditation in a number of specific programs. A list of specialized accreditations is published annually in the Data Digest (pages 98-100).

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