Some students may not know that segregated fees and housing fees are separate from tuition, and that tuition does not pay for athletics. Providing more tuition transparency will allow students to see where exactly their tuition money is going toward.
For almost two years, Associated Students of Madison Shared Governance Director Mara Matovich has been campaigning for tuition transparency. For her, educating students on their misconceptions of tuition is one of the driving goals of this campaign.
“Some [students] pay the fee and try to forget about it, and others have their parents pay it for them, or [students earn] scholarships or grants to cover it,” Matovich said. “I think knowing better as to where my tuition dollars go will help me more confidently pay my tuition bill every semester.”
Matovich has noticed the rising cost of college in comparison to previous years', which led her to kick-start this campaign. She noted that there is not much information to explain the spike in tuition fees. With more transparency, Matovich believes that the campaign can make a better assessment of how to critically evaluate tuition spending.
Central to Matovich’s campaign is the 101 fund, which is the combination of state tax dollars and tuition into a single fund, and this is what she is looking to make transparent. Matovich is currently working with the Madison Budget Office to allow students to see the expenditures of the Gross Product Revenue and tuition.
In a Shared Governance meeting, the Director of the Madison Budget Office Tim Norris publically said that he would work with Matovich to make 101 fund expenditures more readily accessible to the public following the conclusion of the budget process.
“[The campaign] will be putting together fund 101 expenditure information/charts/graphs starting the end of this semester and over the summer,” Matovich said.
Despite her accomplishments, Matovich has also encountered her fair share of obstacles. Matovich said that educating herself about the details of tuition, segregated and housing fees has been a huge learning curve.
“It’s hard to ask for something when you don’t really know about what can be provided or given to you,” Matovich said. “[However], I encourage students to ask questions about the fees they pay—like seg fees and housing fees, and really think critically about their beliefs and what they get out of it.”
