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Deregulation of WLU business program could mean tuition increase n the face of rising Iadmim'strative costs and in an effort to maintain its competitive edge with the rest of Ontario‘s univerâ€" Sities, Wilfrid Laurier Uniâ€" versity recently received approval from the Ontario government to begin the process of deregulating its Business Administration program. While the province sets tuition fees in regulated programs, deregulated fees can be set at any Iqvel by universities. A decision on this issue is scheduled to be announced later this year, but should the proposal to deregulate be ratified by WLU‘s senate and board of governors, the eventual result will be an increase in tuition fees for incoming students. "The earliest students it would start to affect would be secondâ€"year students in 2005; it doesn‘t affect any existing students or any stuâ€" dents that would come this year throughout the life of their time at the university," WLU president Dr. Bob Rosehart stressed in disâ€" cussing the proposal. There is some debate about the reasons behind WLU‘s course of action in seeking approval to dereguâ€" late from the provincial govâ€" ernment, but all sides conâ€" cede that the main motivaâ€" tion behind it is to generate finanical security. "Basically, it‘s being driâ€" ven Ig(plhree factors," Roseâ€" hart lained. "Laurier has been in the topâ€"tier of busiâ€" ness schools in Ontario and three of the schools that we aggressively compete with have deregulated. Western, Queens and Toronto are generating ffiore money per student and, in a sense, you only get what you pay for. When you collect more money, you can spend more FINE AUTOMOBILE BODY AND PAINT meticulous Restoration Original Paint Finishes Unsurpassed Collision Repair FINE AUTO INC 15 Centennial Dr. Kitchener 578â€"2052 PORSCHE JAGUAR Mhich MbHiCth Mercedes Benz Specializing In For The Chronicle By Viset KHaANNA money which impacts on the quality of education. So, if we‘re going to stay in that tier, we‘re going to have to compete with them. Another reason these business schools have been deregulating is the escalatâ€" ing salary costs for their facâ€" ulty. Our salary costs are playing havoc with the busiâ€" ness school budget because of the starting salaries being so high. For the university to deal with that, we need to generate more money. The third factor, which doesn‘t get talked about very much, is that for upwards of 10 years, Laurier has been one of several universities that had a grievance with the Ontario government over these soâ€"called unfundâ€" ed students. Each year, the "The sad reality is there‘s pretty much nothing lowâ€" income families can do and likely what will happen is, these families will not be able to send Q‘ei r children to university," â€" Anthony Piscitelli WLU board of governors government gets about $5 million worth of students educated here without payâ€" ing a cent for them. So, those are the factors driving deregulation and are collecâ€" tively putting a lot of stress and strain over the entire univeristy budget." According to WLU goverâ€" nor Anthony Piscitelli, howâ€" ever, government underâ€" funding coupled with overâ€" enrolment are at the heart of this matter. "We have a situation where, in the past two years, we‘ve had more students come into WEU than we‘d expected," Piscitelli explained. "The way that the system works is, the univerâ€" sities are told how much they‘re allowed to go over what they did the previous year. And if you happen to enrol more than that, then you don‘t get funded for those extra â€" students. Schools try to make predicâ€" ’Northdal Auto Bodves $ Complete Collision and Refinishing Service \ 430 Albert Street, Waterloo 88 # VICTORIA PARK AUGUST «w16 â€" 17 iness S ion increase y NHowens suirts tions about how many stuâ€" dents are going to come into the university the next year, but what it boils down to is, you can‘t predict what stuâ€" dents are going to do and you can end up with more than you expect." The surplus in student enrolment may not be an issue for long as Piscitelli believes that rising tuition costs will dissuade many students from even applying to university. "The sad reality is there‘s pretty much nothing lowâ€" income families can do and likely what will happen is, these families will not be able to send their children to university," Piscitelli reaâ€" soned. According to Rosehart, however, there is little eviâ€" dence to back up a claim that rising tuition costs will lead to a lack of universal Continued on page 6 & _A d e> 2&/ "SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE WITH US!* ,& | S@' IWCv8 Efi " * Beautiful Patterns * Light Weight Comfort * Baffie Box Construction * White Duck Feather Fill * 100% Cotton * 6 Decorator Colours CAMBRIDGE CENTRE 355 HESPELER RD. 620â€"9488 & .5 O Wdeflort |«=> Quilts 619 King St. West, Kitchener 744â€"9471 or 745â€"8411 "Signature Edition" Longstem ROSES SsUMMER SALE 25"° OFF Order Online at: www lourasharpeflowers.com (King & Wellington} $29.99 Dozen Everyday Low Frice All Giftware X<Hooded Towels Â¥Apc. Towel Sets *Beach Towel 147. * Light Weight Natural Fill * Boxstitch Construction * 5 yr. Guarantee * 100% Acrylic * Assorted colours * Machine wash/dry ‘12" wiige