UW System leaders praised Gov. Tony Evers’ recently proposed budget, which expands $150 million to higher education after many years of lackluster funding.
Of the $83.4 billion 2019-’21 budget, the higher education expansion included a fully-funded tuition freeze across the UW System, as well as $17.4 million for need-based resident grants. In addition, all state employees received a 2 percent compensation increase.
At UW-Madison, the reinvestment would include expansions for high-demand programs such as Nursing, Computer Science, Engineering, as well as to the School of Business.
UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden was positive about the increase in funds, calling it a “welcome sign.”
“Economically it is a smart strategy to invest in the university,” Burden said. “Research shows that there's a ‘multiplier effect’ where the economic benefits to the state far outweigh the immediate expense to the state.”
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank also applauded these changes saying, “This plan to reinvest recognizes the potential for our students, faculty, staff and alumni to positively impact our communities around the state.”
The budget received general support across the system, including UW-Stevens Point.
“He understands an investment in higher education is vital to growing Wisconsin’s talent pipeline, improving lives, and providing opportunities for Wisconsinites to earn higher wages,” Patterson stated.
The plan was also met with approval from UW Board of Regents Ray Cross, who said in a statement last Thursday, “We applaud Governor Evers’ enthusiastic commitment to funding higher education in the University of Wisconsin System.”
UW-Milwaukee associate professor Nicholas Fleisher endorsed Evers decision to fund the tuition freeze, acknowledging how long campuses have gone without the proper funds to expand education to students.
"I am really encouraged to see that Evers wants to fund the freeze. Faculty and student groups have been arguing in favor of that for several years now," he said. "Freezing tuition is great, but over the past six years it has been an unfunded mandate that has further constrained campuses' budgets. And we are seeing the very dire consequences of tight budgets all over the UW System."
However, elsewhere in the UW System, excitement for the plan has been more tempered.
In this budget, the Wisconsin Technical College System received funding that set a record for investment in technical college students. However, WTCS was quick to notice how little aid would be provided to them in their response to the proposal.
“While this would be a record investment in technical college students, to put it in perspective funding in 2020-21 would lag state financial aid to private colleges by $6 million,” the release read.
It further encouraged WTCS supporters to continue to back the System in order to further increase the resources available to the system.
With the bipartisan tension on many budget issues, Evers’ proposal “[faces] little chance of passing without significant changes.”
However, many other aspects of the plan have been met with intense opposition from the majority-holding, Republican-held Legislature, who have threatened to draft their own budget from scratch.
Even despite this, Evers’ plan sparks hope to restore some funding to the System which he claims “has been under attack for a while.”
