UW-Madison undergrads paying in-state tuition are in for a case of sticker shock when they open their first bill this year to see an 18.2 percent increase in the price of tuition over last year.
This likely scenario comes in response to Gov. Jim Doyle's budget proposal, which includes a $250 million cut to the UW System. Doyle's budget aims to fix Wisconsin's projected $3.2 billion deficit for the 2003-2005 fiscal biennium.
The cut passed its first hurdle, approval by the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, May 15. It next must meet approval by the full Legislature before Doyle signs the budget.
Administrators predict the cut will easily pass the full Legislature. State Sen. Russ Decker, D-Schofield, called it a \done deal.""
""This is just another way of balancing the state budget on the back of education and students, and I just don't like it,"" said Decker, who was one of two legislators on the committee who voted unsuccessfully against the cut.
The cut includes a provision that bars the Board of Regents from increasing in-state tuition beyond $350 a semester at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee and $250 a semester at all other UW campuses. The $350 increase at UW-Madison would place tuition 18.2 percent over last year's.
Board of Regents President Guy Gottschalk said the board has no other choice but to raise tuition the full amount to make up for part of the $250 million cut.
""We'll still be left with a $100 million hole [after the tuition increase] that is going to adversely affect student experiences,"" he said. ""To not take the full amount tuition increase as capped by the governor would make that hole bigger, obviously.""
If the Legislature does not pass the budget by next month, Gottschalk said, the Regents will go ahead and include the full increase anyway when they set tuition this summer.
""To be fair to students and parents, letters need to go out [in June],"" Gottschalk said. ""We've got a few weeks to see how things might shake out, but at some point in time we just, you know, may have to act on the best info we have at that point in time.""
Right now UW-Madison has the second lowest in-state tuition in the Big Ten next to the University of Iowa, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. With the proposed increase, UW-Madison's resident tuition would stay $700 to $1100 below the midpoint.
University officials have said in the past they do not want to raise non-resident tuition any higher because it is already among the most expensive in the Big Ten.
The tuition increase will affect some students less than others. Incoming freshman Amanda Roling said her grandparents set up a trust fund to pay for most of her tuition. She has been waiting tables and earning scholarships to pay the rest.
Roling said she was not surprised at the increase, and she will still be able to pay her tuition.
""My sister is at UW-Milwaukee, so she told us that there was going to be an increase at all UW schools,"" Roling said. ""We were aware of it but it didn't make much of an impact-it still costs way more to go out of state.\
