Grothman Beaned In Spring Training: Dazed and Confused, Nothing New.

Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), who represents Wisconsin's 20th Senate District, appears back to his usual self after issuing another in a series of press releases which fail to articulate a rational analysis of a critical issue facing the state of Wisconsin.

The latest paper attack is on the University of Wisconsin- Madison for contemplated tuition increases.

Grothman Tells UW: Stop Punishing the Middle Class           

The "Madison Initiative for Undergraduates" plan would level a $250 supplemental tuition charge for in-state undergraduates this fall, and a $750 fee for nonresidents. If one goes to school for five years this means an added $5,000 for a UW-Madison degree for in-state students and $15,000 for out-of state students.

You do the math. Grothman's numbers are actually significantly more than the actual impact.  The in-state supplemental tuition charge grows cumulatively by $250 per year. 

According to the UW:

... for the 2009-10 academic year, the supplemental (in-state) tuition charge will be $250; for 2010-11, it will be $500; for 2011-12, it will be $750, and for 2012-13, it will be $1,000.

So for five in-state years, the total would be an additional $3,750, not $5,000.

The out-of-state tuition supplements are:

...for the 2009-10 academic year, the supplemental tuition charge will be $750; for 2010-11, it will be $1,500; for 2011-12, it will be $2,250, and for 2012-13, it will be $3,000.

So for five out-of-state years, the total would be an additional $11,250, not $15,000.

In addition, more UW students graduate in four years than five. If they do take five years, one factor may be the unavailability of classes as a result of cutbacks in funding for the UW led by Grothman and his cronies.

Grothman fails to note that since he was first elected to the legislature, state funding support for the UW has dropped by 20%. as the UW picks up more revenue from alumni, foundations, and research grants. The rest was made up by tuition increases forced upon the school by Grothman and his colleagues.

Grothman gets worse:

“One must remember that single parent families are about four times as likely to meet the definition of poverty as married couples, so this is largely an assault on two parent families with traditional values. We are punishing married couples with children. We know the left dislikes traditional bourgeois values, but to punish people for getting married and making over $80,000 a year is absurd,” said Grothman.  “It should also be pointed out that many couples do not give financial support to their children that go to college, either because parents want to instill in their children the value of working for their education or because they have six or seven other children.” 

Huh? Six or seven other children? Is Grothman projecting his personal feelings about birth control on the UW tuition issue now? (Scratching head.)

While some observers at the state capitol believe that this latest bizarre pontification was the result of Grothman taking a hard inside fast one in spring training, more experienced lobbyists are of the opinion that the beaning had no bearing on Grothman's logic.

 

Comments

[Patrick]

Grothman is just using the most extreme numbers to make his point. He's taking the final $1,000 and $3,000 per year that students will be paying and multiplying it by 5. He is right, but just fails to specify that his numbers won't apply to students who enter the UW until the 2012-13 year and afterwards.

[Barry Orton]

Got it. His math needed explanation that wasn't there. Thanks, Patrick. Can you explain the other stuff?

[Patrick]

Sorry, but explaining numbers is much easier than right-wing lunacy.