Some UW-Madison online courses funded through the Division of Continuing Studies may be eliminated next semester due to budget cuts, according to Howard Martin of DCS.
'The courses are offered through the schools and colleges, and the funding mechanism for providing the money to the schools and colleges has been reduced because of the budget cuts from the last couple years,' Martin said.
The increased enrollment of traditional students in online courses aimed at non-traditional students may have contributed to the reduced funding.
'That's what our funding source is for, is to serve non-traditional students. If a traditional student signs up, we get no money for it,' Martin said. 'Therefore we can't run it.'
Faculty member Joe Skulan, who teaches online geology courses 331, Gems: the Science Behind the Sparkle; 333, The Age of Dinosaurs; and 517, Monsters & Science, said those courses may be cut next semester. He said DCS personnel told him about 10,000 students could be affected.
Skulan said he has lots of students who work full time and have a full course load, so they are counted as traditional students.
'The courses are unfunded, and it's up to the individual colleges to figure out if there's some way of keeping them alive,' Skulan said. 'Our department is very interested in keeping these courses alive.'
