State Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, a member of the Joint Finance Committee, spoke out April 13 against Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to discontinue the supplementary program between Wisconsin and Minnesota which subsidizes the higher cost of in-state tuition in Minnesota.
The Minnesota-Wisconsin Interstate Tuition Reciprocity Supplement Program allows students who attend Minnesota state schools to pay Wisconsin tuition. If this program were cut, the reciprocity program would still remain intact. However, students from Wisconsin would have to pay the Minnesota in-state tuition rate instead of the cheaper Wisconsin in-state tuition rate.
Numbers from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau indicate students would pay $1,400 more in tuition per year to attend U of M-Twin Cities, a 16 percent increase, and $2,200 more to attend U of M-Duluth, a 30 percent increase. In total, this proposal would increase tuition for Wisconsin residents studying in Minnesota by $24 million, according to Shilling.
Shilling criticized Walker for making Wisconsin families shoulder a greater burden while providing tax cuts for out-of-state businesses.
""We have a strong tradition of working with our neighbors in Minnesota to make higher education more accessible and affordable for students and families but this proposal eliminates years of progress and takes us in the wrong direction,"" Shilling said in a statement.
Members of the Joint Finance Committee will meet later this week to further discuss the proposal.
—Samy Moskol
