The Facts about UNIBusiness Supplemental Tuition

UNIBusiness -- a proud history of delivering high quality education

• A 'Best Business School', one of only 2 in Iowa (Princeton Review)
• Highest business school accreditation, achieved by less than 6% of business schools worldwide (AACSB International)
• Superior student performance on standardized tests (CPA, CFA, CGBP)

Built on a strong and simple foundation

• Rigorous curriculum
• Close faculty-student interaction
• Regular faculty, fully committed to students’ professional development

Why supplemental tuition?

• Two critical factors made it impossible for us to retain our status as a top business school: Persistent budgetary pressures and persistent shortage of business faculty, causing double-digit annual increases in starting salaries for new faculty
• The supplemental tuition idea emerged as the only way to preserve our strength – an extraordinary measure we had to take to avoid becoming an ordinary business school

How was proposal developed?

• In the spirit of Students First, our Dean first sought input from Presidents’ Council, composed of elected presidents of every UNIBusiness student organization. The student presidents said
• they were generally happy with current education
• they wanted the school to retain its status as a strong business school
• they would support additional supplemental tuition if the additional investment would be targeted toward: (1) greater teaching capacity, and (2) better professional preparation. Very pragmatic
• Wanted to be directly involved in development of the proposal.
• Faculty was engaged; Dean went to the faculty as a whole and to Faculty Senate, which deliberated extensively
• Committee of students, faculty, and administrators developed the proposal
• Proposal was unanimously approved by the CBA student Presidents’ Council and the CBA Faculty Senate.
• Click here to read what students have to say.

What was approved by Board of Regents, State of Iowa?

• A $750 per semester surcharge for all Junior, Senior, and graduate business students.
• Three year Phase-in period: $250/semester 2009-2010, $500/semester 2010-2011, $750/semester 2011-2012
• Adjusted annually to university tuition change starting in year 4
• With fully implemented supplemental tuition, UNIBusiness tuition still be in the bottom 40% of BOR and AACSB Peers
• For graduate students, even with fully implemented supplemental, the one-year, globally recognized programs are a bargain, with the lowest cost among Board of Regents and AACSB peers

Areas of Investment by percentage (consistent with student preference):

• 7 new faculty lines (55%), designed to
• Decrease class sizes
• Increase regular faculty coverage
• Add flexibility to teach new courses and new programs in response to the fast changing world of business.
• Professional Skills Initiative (30%)
• Professional skills development program designed to expose students to contemporary professional skills and allow graduates to hit the ground running as professionals, with savvy, assertiveness, confidence, critical thinking, communication skills, career perspective, and professionalism.
• Ambitious professional skills initiative pilot tested successfully in 07-08 and 08-09 and, beginning Fall 09, is expanded to all Junior and Senior students.
• New communications center designed to help students further develop their writing and presentation skills
• Financial Aid to business students (15%)