As the new year approaches, I have our future students on my mind.
Today one of our core values is at stake—something that should concern all of us who are committed to the future of our college, UW–Madison and Wisconsin. I am talking about declining state support for postsecondary education and its devastating effect on our young people and their opportunities. (more…)
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published the following article on rising costs at public universities:
Rise in Sticker Price at Public Colleges Outpaces That at Private Colleges for 5th Year in a Row, by Beckie Supiano, October 26, 2011
The average price for tuition and fees at public four-year colleges was $8,244 for in-state students in 2011-12, up from $7,613 in 2010-11, an 8.3-percent increase. That percentage change drops to 7.0 percent if California—which had a 21-percent increase in tuition in that one-year period—is excluded.
Here in Wisconsin, in-state tuition and fees for the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the fall 2011 semester totaled $4,832.50, compared with $4,491.60 for the fall 2010 semester; in-state tuition and fees for UW-Milwaukee for the fall 2011 semester totaled $4,337.70, compared with $4,075.63 for the fall 2010 semester. In percentage terms, the increases are 7.6% and 6.4%, respectively.
The basic message in this is that UW-Madison’s in-state tuition is still well below the national average, but the percentage increase is comparable to that experienced elsewhere. In short, like elsewhere, the investment by the state of Wisconsin in making higher education affordable for all of its citizens is being dialed back.
We already knew this, of course. But the latest massive hits to the UW-System budget, not reflected in the above figures, are virtually certain to sharply accelerate the cost increases. In fact, if current trends continue, we can expect to see the distinction between private and public institutions become almost meaningless.
Is this really what the citizens of Wisconsin want?
One of the cornerstones of the public authority proposal that Chancellor Biddy Martin has been pushing with all her might (in contrast to, say, her non-existent campaign for greater public support of the university) is the assumption that we would be able to count on greater donor contributions to patch holes in the budget.
This Bloomberg article documents how that model has worked out for other universities, and it’s not a pretty picture:
Schools Find Ayn Rand Can’t Be Shrugged as Donors Build Courses
If you support the public authority and believe that private donations will be an important source of new revenue, please explain to the rest of us how we will avoid the same fate. Or at least explain why we should embrace that fate.
Either way, it’s past time for more honesty, more facts, more figures, less wishful thinking, and fewer empty platitudes.
- GP
Am I the only one who’s noticed how the twisted logical foundation of the campaign for public authority? If you press people, it goes like this:
The state is steadily defunding us and that’s simply inevitable, so the only thing we can do is accept even more draconian cuts in exchange for some modest leeway in managing our own resources. That’s the best we can do and we have to fight for it.
Smart, engaged people on campus are arguing vigorously and explicitly for just this position, if mostly only in the echo chamber of the campus. And the chancellor is spending most of her time and a ton of resources and staff time to push this, not to mention the help of the mysteriously-funded Badger Advocates. She and her staff are incessantly begging us to do the same. (more…)
The following was originally posted as a Facebook note. In the interest of including more student perspectives on the NBP, it is reposted here with the permission of both contributors.
Alyson S. writes:
Consider people’s attitudes with regards to “saving” and being fiscally responsible. Then check out this article, and especially this paragraph:
Widener, R-Springfield, told the AP he has met with university presidents and financial officers as well as state Chancellor Jim Petro about his findings. His concern is that some institutions are holding almost a year’s worth of expenses in their accounts, even as state budget writers are poised to allow them to raise tuition by as much as 3.5 percent. (more…)
Timed to precede Gov. Scott Walker’s release of his budget proposal later this month, the Teaching Assistants Association (TAA) has organized a Valentine’s Day event designed to demonstrate support for preserving state funding for the University of Wisconsin. As of this writing several hundred Facebook members have already pledged to attend and to deliver to the Capitol a personal valentine:
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The following is a redacted version of an email dated 18 August 2010 sent by a UW-Madison faculty member who happens to have a daughter starting school this fall as a UW-Madison freshman. In addition to being sent to both the course instructor in one of our largish science departments and its chair, it was copied to Vice Provost Aaron Brower and a number of other recipients.
The letter is long, but the message is simple: textbook prices have been rising out of control only because we let them, and it is time to stop letting them.
The following message was broadcast to the campus community by Chancellor “Biddy” Martin on Wednesday, May 5, 2010. It is reproduced (with minor reformatting) in its entirety here for reference and comment by S&W readers. The letter consists of several sections, each of which may be accessed directly via the links below.
A Year-End Letter: Opportunities, Challenges, Impressions
By Chancellor Biddy Martin
- Eds.
(more…)
On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, the first Campus Forum on Financing Public Higher Education took place in the Memorial Union, hosted by PROFS, CAPE, and UFAS. As summarized in greater detail in a previous article in S&W, the purpose of this first forum was to identify and explain the current fiscal challenges facing the University of Wisconsin. Future planned forums in the series will dissect proposed solutions. Members of the local press as well as interested faculty, staff, and students were in attendance.
For the benefit of those who could not attend, we are now belatedly posting (courtesy of CAPE) links to the complete video record (1.5 hours) of the presentations by the three distinguished speakers: Noel Radomski, director of the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE); Andrew Reschovsky, professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs; and Kevin Reilly, President of the University of Wisconsin System.
All three presentations made clear that the budget problems facing the state of Wisconsin, and therefore the University, will be with us for some time to come and will require difficult choices.
Planning for the second forum in the series, which will likely take place in early Fall 2010, is now underway.
Video record is broken into six parts of 15 minutes each.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6