UW System President Ray Cross thanked members of the Wisconsin Assembly in a statement Thursday for passing a college affordability package proposed earlier in the year by Gov. Scott Walker.
The package includes a variety of measures for decreasing student debt, including creating grants for students with emergency financial needs and increasing internship availability, as well as requiring all UW System schools to provide some type of financial literacy to students within their first semester on campus.
It also contains a component that would reduce student loan interest, which would benefit thousands of taxpayers paying off student loans, according to a January press release from the governor’s office.
Cross has encouraged support for the package since its proposal and thanked the Assembly for passing it.
“Improving the affordability of a university experience is critically important to our students and their families, and we greatly appreciate the Assembly’s passage of the college affordability bills,” Cross said in the statement.