Student debt. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it’s unavoidable. And unless you’re one of the lucky few who attend on scholarship, most students at this university will graduate with some sort of debt. New developments at the highest level of the UW System administration could be making things better or worse for us all, that is, depending on whether the state you come from ends in “-sconsin.”
In a recent interview with The Daily Cardinal, new UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank was quoted saying that she believes that the university’s education was undervalued and that a raise in out-of-state tuition was due.
Full disclosure, I’m a coastie. Born in Boston and raised in northern California, I’ve been paying “sticker price” at this school since I stepped foot on campus two falls ago. But enough about that, lets get back to the matter at hand.
According to the Cardinal’s article, Blank’s reasoning behind the move is because the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a similar product in experience and quality of education to that of the University of Michigan, the two schools should be similarly priced to out-of-staters. Michigan, ranked as the 28th best school in the nation by U.S. News, currently charges out-of-staters $39,109 in tuition and fees. Including outside fees and living expenses, that total jumps up to around $56,000 annually for Michigan out-of-staters. That leads the University of Virginia as the most expensive public institution in the nation, and is a little under $13,000 ahead of what UW currently charges non-residents.
What exactly is the logic behind this move? Let’s rewind back to last July when a state audit revealed that the UW System was carrying around a hefty $643 million in unrestricted cash reserves. A bipartisan outcry from the state legislature for cutbacks on System funding resulted in an announcement by UW Regents of a two-year tuition freeze for in-state students. The rate of funding for further expenditures at UW has slowed for the foreseeable future, but the overall national trend of extravagant higher education spending has not.
Even though the state’s desire to fund more projects has faded, school leaders such as Blank are under intense pressure to keep the university atop its perch as one of the premier public institutions in the country. Blank was quoted in the Cardinal’s article as saying that most of the reasons for rising costs have to do with new buildings and offering faculty a competitive salary. But why raise tuition for out-of-staters?
In many ways out-of-staters are easy targets for increased tuition. Because we are already paying a large price to go to school here, its perceived that we are less sensitive to changes in price. Anyone who is willing to pay around $40,000 a year in tuition, books and living expenses wouldn’t mind ponying up an extra couple thousand for the university. Also, the state Legislature does not represent out-of-staters as part of their respective constituencies, and therefore have little incentive to protect the interests of this group of students.
All things considered, this move would have a negative effect on the economic future of the state. UW-Madison serves as a powerful magnet to attract young talents from across the nation to within its borders. The kind of people who have the personal skills and confidence to travel far away from home to an out-of-state school are exactly the type of people who could jumpstart the economy of Wisconsin. A great value in higher education through a quality degree, combined with tuition more competitive than UW’s midwestern peers, would give the state a big advantage in attracting the kind of creative young work force it needs for a sustained economic future.
Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
