The proposed tuition surcharge for upper-level engineering students will not go without input from a student advisory committee.

Mark Kushner, dean of the College of Engineering, said a student committee will give advice on how to spend money raised through the surcharge, and will have representation from each engineering department, as well as the Engineering Student Council.

“I will have an advisory committee that will have student representation that will give me advice as to how the surcharge funds are used,” Kushner said.

The committee has not yet been formed, but could be if the Iowa Board of Regents votes in favor of the surcharge at its December meeting.

Stacia Totman, president of the Engineering Student Council, said she was a member of the dean’s student advisory committee, which met with Kushner several times last semester.

Totman, senior in civil engineering, said the main topic last year was how to improve the college by reducing the student-to-faculty ratio.

Totman said one option discussed was a new policy of enrollment management while the other was hiring more faculty, which created a need for more money.

“The decision as to which option was chosen was up to him,” she said.

According to the College of Engineering’s Web site, the proposed surcharge will take effect in fall 2006.

From there, tuition will be increased $250 a semester during a three- to five-year period. New funds equivalent to $4.3 million will be available after the tuition increase reaches $1,750 per semester. This new source of money is meant to reduce the current College of Engineering student-faculty ratio of 22 to 1 by approximately two to three students.

Totman said she will graduate in fall 2006, and if the proposed surcharge is passed by the Board of Regents, she will have to pay more tuition for her last semester.

“I’m actually in support of it,” she said. “I think it’s important to get some resources and keep the college competitive with peer universities around the Midwest and the nation.”

David Miles, senior in aerospace engineering, said he agrees a surcharge should be created but is concerned with who is actually considered a junior and how the money will be used. He said the next couple of months will settle these issues.

“I think that, in general, it is something that could be a very good thing for the Iowa State community as a whole and the engineering college, assuming it is put forth properly,” he said.

Miles said it is his understanding that most of the money will be spent hiring new faculty, along with renovating lab space belonging to the college.

“The more faculty we have, the better things are going to be, and will lead to more research and more productivity out of the college as a whole,” he said.