Boise Students Switching To UI Program

Most juniors and seniors enrolled at the University of Idaho’s cooperative engineering program in Boise are planning to transfer to the Moscow campus to finish their degrees.

They were given that option after the state Board of Education switched jurisdiction over the undergraduate mechanical, civil and electrical engineering programs in Boise to Boise State University two months ago.

University of Idaho officials estimate that between 34 and 37 students will transfer to Moscow for the upcoming spring semester. At least another 40 students will transfer next fall, and 35 more are expected to make the move in spring 1997.

University of Idaho Engineering Dean Richard Jacobsen said 10 more students are expected to transfer from Boise to Moscow in the fall of 1997, and three in the spring of 1998.

The Board of Education agreed in November to offer financial packages of up to $5,000 per student to help cover the costs of transferring from Boise to Moscow. But lawmakers still must decide whether to appropriate the money to make good on the board’s commitment to letting students who originally enrolled in Boise finish their degrees in an accredited engineering program.