Opinion

Getting your money’s worth

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Related stories:

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• ASM gets it right (!) (March 10, 2005)
• Campus unchained (December 3, 2002)
• Taking risks, getting schooled (January 18, 2007)
• Insult and inquiry: Bus shelters (October 21, 2003)

Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:

• The Invisible Man Award: Wyndham Manning (May 7, 2009)
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• The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
• Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
• Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)

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Gov. Scott McCallum is scheduled to announce deep cuts in the state budget today, and the UW System will not escape the knife. Most estimates suggest the UW System will be required to cut $50 million from next year’s budget, but the total could be as high as $150 million.

While the distribution of those cuts will be up to the Board of Regents, early reports suggest they will not be able to raise tuition — at least for in-state students. McCallum views tuition as being the same as any other tax or fee, and McCallum has declared there will be no new taxes.

While we wholeheartedly agree with the no-tax pledge, to suggest tuition is a tax is absurd. Clearly tuition is a fee paid for a service, and McCallum’s plan threatens the quality of that service.

Moreover, a tuition freeze only means greater increases in the future — the last tuition freeze was followed by a nearly double digit percentage increase the following year for in-state students — even more for out-of-staters.

Of course, there is a lot of bureaucratic waste in the UW System, and we hope the regents take this opportunity to trim the fat. Unfortunately, we fear the regents will again raise out-of-state tuition, making an already-pricey education unrealistic for non-residents.

An unintended victim would be diversity efforts. The homogeneity of the Wisconsin population is well documented, so if UW is to be any different the school must be appealing to out-of-state students. Newsflash — a bill nearing $15,000 a year is not appealing.

The correct strategy for McCallum is to demand documented cuts in bureaucratic waste while leaving the regents free to raise tuition. A lower quality of education will cost far more in the long run than an in-state tuition raise — as it currently stands, Wisconsinites pay the second-lowest tuition in the Big Ten. At the very least, out-of-state and in-state tuition should be raised simultaneously, guaranteeing UW will remain a prestigious national university, not a second-rate state subsidy.