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Category: Editorials Editorials
Published: 03 March 2016 03 March 2016

Letter to the Editor:

Present Shepard said that Western has a competitive advantage over other schools when it comes to costs, when in fact, Western has the highest cost of attendance (tuition, fees, housing and meals) in the state at about $18,000 a year. UNM the second highest is $2,500 a year less than Western.

For out of state students cost of attendance at Western is about $27,000 a year. Highlands is $10,800 a year less than Western. To give the impression that Western is a low cost institution is misleading.

President Shepard said Western is not interested in Asia. Not too many years ago, ex-president Counts was traveling across China, on Western's dime, signing agreements with a bunch of school to send their students to Western. I was told perhaps one Chinese student came to Western.

Not too long ago, the University announced a program for Brazilian students to come to Western. The University has yet to announce one student from this program at Western.

I was at Western for a while and seen dozens of agreements signed with foreign schools to interact in various ways with Western. The only result of those signings was for administrators to get a free foreign trip.

People should realize that the GǣApplied Liberal Arts UniversityGǥ is Plan B for Western's future. Plan A was the GǣPrioritization and Enhancement ProgramGǥ. The only result of Plan A was eliminating the Spanish program. And with all the interest in jobs of the future, people should know Western is the only University in New Mexico without a 4 year Computer Science program.

Alfred Milligan
Silver City