A study released Tuesday by the College Board shows college tuition nationwide is on the rise. The UW System follows this trend, hovering slightly above the national average for resident undergraduates.
Tuition for UW System schools rose 8 percent for resident undergraduate students and 13 percent for nonresidents from last year. Nationally, the tuition increase was 9.6 percent, according to Erik Christianson, a UW System spokesperson.
The tuition increase is mainly a result of declining state revenues. Traditionally, the UW System received 65 percent of funding from the state of Wisconsin and 35 percent through tuition. Today, those figures have changed to 61 percent and nearly 39 percent, respectively, according to Christianson.
\I think that increasing tuition is a considerable cause for concern for students who are attending UW campuses,"" said United Council Legislative Affairs Director Maggie Brown. ""Every time tuition goes up there is a new group of students or potential students that don't have access to the university system.""
Nationally, tuition increases for public universities are growing at three times the rate of inflation, according to the College Board.
Despite this year's unprecedented $90 billion in national financial aid, tuition continues to rise disproportionately, especially for nonresident students, according to Jennifer Topiel, a College Board spokesperson.
However, a new Wisconsin law diminishes this problem for UW System students by correlating tuition rates with financial aid, Christianson said.
Among Big Ten schools, UW-Madison has the second lowest tuition for resident undergraduate students and the second highest for nonresident undergraduates, according to Christianson.
""For every nonresident student that comes to the university, three resident students are subsidized through their tuition and fees. When we lose nonresident students, we essentially lose spots for resident students as well,"" Brown said.
However, Brown said she thinks the issue of most concern is the ability of students from middle-class families to cover continually increasing university costs.
""One of the largest growing concerns are the middle-income students and the working students who don't qualify for financial aid but are consistently asked to dig deeper into their pockets,"" she said. ""Lots of those students are beginning to realize that their pockets are empty.""
The Board of Regents and the UW System president are addressing the financial difficulties facing Wisconsin schools. In order to limit tuition increases, they have proposed a plan to gain revenue elsewhere by obtaining interest from students' tuition that is currently collected by the federal government.
