Proposed legislation that would establish a 3 percent tuition cap remained stuck in a state committee Tuesday after university officials argued it would cripple the quality of education in the UW System.
One day after local lawmakers suggested the state should use $17 million of its general purpose revenue to offset tuition increases for low-income students, Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, offered his own solution to help cash-strapped students in a meeting of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities-a cap on tuition increases for the next two years at 3 percent. The proposal earned the bipartisan support of several Democrats, including Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison.
\I truly believe in it and I think Rep. Kreibich does, but we have to make sure that we provide the funding as well so that we can keep the UW strong but also keep tuition affordable,"" Pocan said.
However, UW System officials and other lawmakers warned Kreibich's bill does not address the funding shortfall that would result from a tuition cap.
""Unfortunately the bill as introduced isn't funded,"" said Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison. ""It would lead to about $70 million in cuts at the university, which would be pretty severe.""
UW System Board of Regents spokesperson Doug Bradley said further cuts would be tough to absorb.
""We just came out of a biennium where we cut $250 million and we had to increase tuition substantially to try to recover some of that,"" Bradley said. ""Throw[ing] an additional $70 million of cuts into this mix right now will definitely hurt the quality of education.""
""The university could go from a great university to a mediocre university,"" Black added.
Kreibich, who chairs the Colleges and Universities Committee, had originally intended to hold a vote on his proposal in the meeting, but Black said Kreibich changed his mind after hearing some of the effects the bill could have. For now, the bill will be worked on in the committee.
Bradley said he would like Kreibich and all legislators to work more closely with the university when crafting legislation.
""We all have the same goals in mind,"" Bradley said. ""We should talk about the shared agenda and not have to react to legislation we don't think is in the best interest of us and our students.""
Calls to Kreibich's office went unreturned.
