Students in the UW System who exceed the number of credits needed to graduate will be charged twice the normal tuition fees.

On Thursday the UW Board of Regents unanimously approved the proposal that will take effect in the fall semester of 2004.

Under the plan, students would be charged double tuition after exceeding 165 credits or 30 percent more than the required number of credits to graduate with a degree.

About 50 students on the UW-Eau Claire campus this semester would fall under the proposal, Provost/Vice Chancellor Ron Satz said. Nearly all of these students could appeal against the additional tuition costs.

Odds are good, however, that most Eau Claire students will never see the effects of the plan.

“The number of (affected) students will be very, very small,” Vice Chancellor Andy Soll said.

Appeals against the plan can be made for transfer students with a large amount of credits, students with multiple majors and minors and students with Advanced Placement credits.

“Eau Claire isn’t the problem,” Satz said, adding that schools such as UW-Madison will be more affected. The plan is designed to increase the efficiency of the credits-to-degree ratio.

In the 1994-95 school year, UW System students averaged 145 credits per degree. According to an Associated Press story, in 2001-02 that number was down to 136. Soll attributed the drop to better advising and trimming all but one degree program to 120 credits.

The proposal is not being used to gain additional financial revenue, Soll said.

Satz agreed, saying the plan is “not going to bring in a lot of money.”

With potential budget cuts looming, the System is trying to streamline its efficiency.

The plan would push students to be more efficient to finish their degrees.

According to an Associated Press story, the plan’s actions will be threefold: review of programs requiring more than 130 credits for a degree, identify and counsel students approaching the 165 degree limit and require a 100 percent additional charge on students exceeding the limit.

The idea for the plan was developed by Gov. Scott McCallum and other legislators to trim the number of credits required for a degree. By cutting the number of credits per degree, the state cuts educational costs.

Satz said that all “this will do is cause all campuses in the System to take a good hard look at themselves” to aid in cutting costs, helping students graduate promptly and cutting education costs.