UW:Tuition Increases and The Shell Game

The right wing spin on University of Wisconsin tuition increases is very appealing. From the Republican Assembly view, the facts are simple:they attempted to limit this year's tuition increase to 3% but they were thwarted by the Democrats,the Governor and the Board of Regents who eventually raised the tuition for the 2007-2008academic year by 5%for the Madison campus.

I have two children in the UW System this year and know better. That was a phony Republican orchestrated cynical ploy designed to gain votes, hurt the UW and had no concern for the students..

As we pay the tuition increase, my focus is on the quality of my kids education and where we will the UW be in four years.   

The Republican plan would weaken the quality of the faculty, driven away professors, increase class size, make it difficult for students to get into filled  classes (an already severe problem), and resulted in further deteriorating campus buildings that need repair.

Though we cannot afford the tuition increase for two students, I know that the additional 2% is a better choice than reducing the quality of the education.

Of course, there was a third option. Instead of cutting UW funding or putting the increase on the students, the legislature could return to public support of the UW as we had for over a century so that out of state students only paid the true cost of their education and in state students only paid one third of the cost.

Comments

[Peter Gruett]

Thanks very much for calling attention to this. The money that students "save" when the university absorbs state funding cuts without raising tuition simply comes out of the value of their diplomas. This is on top of the damage to the state's economy when top faculty leave for jobs at better-supported institutions. The university already underpays its faculty and has made serious cuts to administration and building maintenance (Just look at the Humanities Building). Where do Republican legislators think this money's going to come from? The students lose either way.

[RAG]

I find myself in the middle here. The regents always seem to pass along the brunt to the students and their families and then rally the troops to blindly whine whenever anyone even hints that the UW should have some fiscal accountability.

That said, Paul is right about nonresident tuition and admissions. We should be taking care of our own students first.

Further, one thing we haven't perfected in over three decades is that the University of Wisconsin is supposed to be a SYSTEM. We shouldn't let someone from Racine or Milwaukee into Madison just because they wan't to party in Mad City if the same program is available at Milwaukee or Parkside. Now, if they need to be in Madison for a specific reason, that's another story.

[Freefall]

Oh, I think the admission standards of the Madison campus pretty well take care of anyone who wants (no apostrophe needed) to come to school there just to party.

Not to argue with your argument, just your evidence. There is far better evidence (just look at the comparative numbers of faculty -- actual faculty, not temps -- among the UW campuses) to argue that the UW System still is not working well.

The aim of the Regents ought to be to make it an equitable system, so that all students in it -- and taxpayers -- could get their money's worth rather than continue to fund the campus in Madison from their campuses around the state. Much of the rest that is needed would follow.

[jim guilfoil]

The right wing rant is 'corporatize, corporatize, coporatize'! The attack on the university as a left wing think tank is obvious. We must distrust any form of tax supported institutions except the Pentagon, CIA, and the security state.
All else must be commodified and put to the test of the market place.
Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the National Security State.
Hallelujah!

[Milton]

Higher education should not receive a dime of money from the state. 100 percent of the benefit goes to the student.