The Pointer Compact

To ensure that students graduate from UWSP equipped to succeed personally and professionally, The Pointer Compact will:

1. Help you graduate on time, decreasing the overall cost of your education, by:
   
   
   • Expanding the availability of high-demand classes, making sure students can enroll in the classes they need when they need them
   • Providing all students greater academic support, including timely advising, career planning, tutoring, and other services
     
     
2. Increase the quality and value of your education by:
   
   
   • Providing courses taught by the highest caliber faculty members
   • Guaranteeing that all students participate in the most valuable learning experiences, including such opportunities as first year seminars, learning communities, service learning courses, internships, and undergraduate research.

In achieving these outcomes, The Pointer Compact will bolster UWSP’s already strong reputation for promoting student success, helping to raise the university’s retention and graduation rates and maintain access to UWSP for students who are eligible for Pell grants. A strong university reputation, in turn, will enhance the value of your degree, protecting your investment in yourself and your future as Pointer alumni.

Implementing The Pointer Compact will require making annual strategic investments in the university, each of which will be reviewed, approved, and evaluated by a committee of students, faculty, and staff responsible for overseeing the effort.  These investments, in turn, will each be linked to one of the outcomes listed above.

 

​The Pointer Compact will:	To accomplish this, we must invest in:​	Rationale​	What the revenue will support:​	​Cost Per Semester for Students
​Help you graduate on time, decreasing the overall cost of your education by: •    Expanding the availability of high-demand classes, making sure students can enroll in the classes they need when they need them	​Eliminating Undergraduate Course Bottlenecks	​Many academic programs on campus are experiencing bottlenecks in both high-demand lower and upper division undergraduate courses.  The Pointer Compact will support the salary and fringe benefit costs required to hire additional teaching faculty to meet these needs, supporting growing enrollments and decreasing time-to-degree for students.  The programs supported and the faculty hired would be determined each year based on enrollment needs.	​Salary and fringe benefit costs for 20 additional 9-month faculty/teaching academic staff positions, or the equivalent of 160 additional course sections annually.  (Salaries at $1,000,000 and fringe benefits at $465,600; $1,465,600 total.)	​$87
​•    Providing all students greater academic support, including timely and sound advising, career planning, tutoring, and other services	​Student Academic Support Services	​Comprehensive, purposeful academic support services are vital to promoting student success, not just for those struggling academically but for all students looking to strengthen their skills and abilities.  In particular, these services help students to assume greater responsibility for their own educations and decision making, helping them to link their course work with their lives beyond the university.  The Pointer Compact will support expanded academic advising, tutoring services—including supplemental instruction in high-risk courses—and career counseling.	​Free group tutoring in Mathematics and the Sciences ($75,400); free individual tutoring for students with special learning needs ($7,560); Supplemental Instruction Program ($97,800); salary and fringe benefit costs for 4.0 additional 12-month staff positions (salaries at $160,000 and fringe benefits at $74,496, $234,496 total); peer mentors in advising ($10,000); and supplies and equipment ($16,000).	​$26
​Increase the quality and value of your education by: •    Providing courses taught by the highest caliber faculty members	​The Center for Academic Excellence and Student Engagement (CAESE)	​CAESE is UWSP’s faculty teaching center, the primary location for encouraging innovative practices in teaching and learning on campus.  The center’s mission is to assist faculty and staff in adopting creative, cutting edge strategies for the improvement of teaching and learning, including first year seminars, service learning, e-portfolios, and other practices that foster student success.  The Pointer Compact will support ongoing instructional development in general education, employ an Assessment Coordinator to help evaluate and improve student learning, and facilitate the adoption of new educational technologies.	​Salary and fringe benefit costs for 3.5 additional 12-month staff positions (salaries at $230,000 and fringe benefits at $107,088; $337,088 total), plus an annual operational budget of $100,000.	​$26
​•    Guaranteeing that all students participate in the most valuable learning experiences, including such opportunities as first year seminars, learning communities, service learning courses, internships, undergraduate research ​	​Creating a Comprehensive First Year Experience	​Research shows clearly that providing a comprehensive First Year Experience to students is among the best ways to improve student success, including academic performance, retention rates, and four-year graduation rates.  The Pointer Compact will support the new First Year Seminars, a peer mentor program associated with the FYS, expanded learning communities, an early warning system to identify and aid students encountering difficulties during their first year on campus, and a staff position to coordinate these activities.	​Costs to provide First Year Seminars ($141,000), an Early Warning System ($30,000), and a Peer Mentor/Learning Communities Program ($100,000).  Salary and fringe benefit costs for one additional 12-month staff position (salary at $60,000 and fringe benefits at $27,936; $87,936 total).	​$21
	​Service Learning	​Service Learning is among the most significant activities that universities can employ to encourage academic achievement, civic engagement, and personal growth in students.  Expanding UWSP’s Service Learning program will provide students with meaningful opportunities to fulfill the new General Education requirement in Experiential Learning, set to begin in fall 2013.  The Pointer Compact will support a course development fund and the hiring of a half-time faculty coordinator within CAESE to assist faculty in incorporating service learning into their classes.	​Course development fund ($200,000) and salary and fringe benefit costs for an additional 12-month .50 staff position.  (Salary at $30,000 and fringe benefits at $13,968; $43,968 total.)	​$15
​	​Undergraduate Research, Artistic/Creative Projects, and Capstone Experiences	​Through undergraduate research and artistic/creative projects, students learn to integrate theory with practice in their chosen fields, work closely with faculty, and develop skills that are highly employable following graduation.  Expanding opportunities for such research will provide students with meaningful opportunities to fulfill the new General Education requirement for Capstone Experiences, set to begin in fall 2013.  The Pointer Compact will support the creation of competitive student grants designed to facilitate undergraduate research projects, a faculty mentor program, and classroom/lab/studio modification grants to provide the necessary equipment and facilities.	​Undergraduate research/ Capstone programs, student research grants ($300,000), a faculty mentor program ($150,000), and lab modification fund ($200,000)	​$39
​Maintain access to UWSP for students already for Pell Grants	​Financial Aid Support	​The campus is committed to ensuring that lower income students will be held harmless from the tuition increase associated with the Pointer Compact.  To do so, students eligible for Pell grants will receive additional financial aid to offset the increase.  In the 2010-11 academic year, UWSP enrolled 2,876 student FTE who were eligible to receive Pell grants.	​Cost to hold Pell-eligible students harmless from the differential tuition cost.	​$110
​ ​ ​Total Investment related to The Pointer Compact (when fully implemented)			​$5,457,376	​$324 ($648 annually)

 

 

Given the scope of these investments, The Pointer Compact also comes with a promise that we will evaluate how well we succeed in achieving our stated outcomes and regularly share this information with the campus community.  In particular, in consultation with UWSP’s Student Government Association and its Faculty Senate, a Pointer Compact Advisory Board consisting of eight voting members (six students and two members of the faculty) and three non-voting members (the Vice Chancellors for Student Affairs, Business Affairs, and Academic Affairs) will be established to evaluate the success of the effort and make annual recommendations to the Chancellor regarding the allocation of funding.

The Pointer Compact Advisory Board may, at any time, request that the Student Government Association (SGA) re-evaluate The Pointer Compact. SGA may also at any time initiate an evaluation process of The Pointer Compact, involving campus governance groups. If SGA finds The Pointer Compact to no longer be successful in accomplishing its purposes, it will forward its findings to campus administration, governance groups and The Pointer Compact Advisory Board.

The Pointer Compact Advisory Board may issue a vote of no confidence in The Pointer Compact following a failed evaluation. If The Pointer Compact Advisory Board decides The Pointer Compact is no longer effective, there will be a one-year probationary period of further analysis and gathering of student input. At the end of this probationary period, The Pointer Compact Advisory Board will send a recommendation of action to campus governance groups, the Chancellor, and the Board of Regents. If The Pointer Compact Advisory Board votes a negative appraisal of The Pointer Compact two consecutive years, the Chancellor will also make this recommendation to the Board of Regents.