When Rensselaer at Hartford was founded in 1955, it was not clear what its purpose was going to be. Over the years, it steadily drifted away, until it was offering degrees under the name “Hartford Graduate Center,” with a license from RPI. However, as detailed under the Rensselaer Plan, RH has begun a process of “re-Rensselaerification” that will have an extreme impact on the way the school operates, and which has become a source of concern and some contention between students, faculty, and administrators.
“The fundamental tenet here is that RPI degrees should be of the same uniformly high quality regardless of site,” said Vice President and Dean for Hartford Alan Eckbreth. “We’re putting in place the mechanisms and processes to ensure our success in the future.”
The most immediate change seen at the campus is in tuition. This year, the cost per credit hour at RH rose to $942 from $750, and has the potential to climb higher. While the factors behind it are uncertain, enrollment at RH dropped 30 percent this year from last. The cost of attendance committee, which is part of the board of trustees, has not yet met to determine next year’s rates, and it is uncertain whether this drop will affect their decision. Eckbreth explained that while their on-campus enrollment dropped, their distance programs, which offer 1,000 credit hours a year and cost just as much as resident education at Hartford, did not seem to be influenced.
However, this increase does have the potential to be devastating for the school. “One of the challenges we have in Hartford is that local universities are less expensive,” explained Eckbreth. While many of RPI’s “peer and aspirant” schools charge much more than this for degrees, schools in the Hartford area cost a great deal less. The University of Connecticut’s Hartford management campus, for example, charges only $490 per credit hour. However, Eckbreth does not feel that what RH is charging is excessive. “A 30-credit master’s [degree] for under $30,000 is not unreasonable,” he said.
To handle the increases, the school is planning to bring in a director of marketing, but the largest part of the plan is offering different types of programs to area students. According to David Haviland, vice president for institute advancement, the school is looking to offer signature graduate programs in Hartford, particularly an MBA aimed toward “rising executives who want to focus on the intersection of management and technology.”
In addition, Haviland explained that all the programs will be shifted from individuals working at night to groups working on weekends. At present, only the management degree is structured that way. It is hoped that this “cohort-based” program will add to the educational experience, with students learning from the other experienced members in their group in addition to the curriculum.
Having tenured and tenure-track faculty teaching courses at Hartford for the first time since the school was founded is also one of the main changes being implemented in the program. According to Eckbreth, RH will have six such professors on campus by Fall 2004: three in the Hartford division of the Lally School of Management and three in engineering. Within five years, Eckbreth expects the ratio of tenured to clinical appointments to be even.
The school has not directly asked for feedback from the students yet, but has been given some. “The feedback we clearly get is concern about tuition,” explained Eckbreth. “But we’re committed to offering a quality of education that is commensurate with what they’re paying.”
The issue has been discussed at several Student Senate meetings on the RPI campus since the beginning of the semester, and continues to be examined. “While we support the concept of bringing the educational experience at Hartford to the levels expected from RPI in general, we are concerned about ensuring that the expectations of current students are met in regards to curriculum and tuition rates,” said Grand Marshal Mike Borzumate, speaking for the Senate. “We do not want to see a transition like what happened to Troy graduate students. The Senate is carefully following the developments on the Hartford campus.”
