Opinion

Stakes are high for Wisconsin as regents plan for UW budget squeeze

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Related stories:

• One step forward, two steps back (September 4, 2006)
• Getting your money's worth (January 22, 2002)
• Whistle-blowing on UW's Plan 2008 negligence (December 8, 2004)
• Tight squeeze (February 12, 2007)
• Demographics conspire against tuition plan (March 13, 2008)

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• The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
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The Capitol is not leaving the UW System much room to wiggle under the budget adjustment passed this summer, and the Board of Regents has little reason to see any leeway in the next biennium.

As it is, any funds for new initiatives will have to be siphoned from existing programs rather than created out of disposable income. At its meeting Aug. 22, the regents proposed a budget they expect will fall within the next squeeze when the state’s structural deficit necessitates more cuts next year. With its modest request — $80 million less than it asked for in the last biennium — the system sent the right message to the pocket-pinchers: Either find a way to restructure the budget to include more higher-education funding or risk the economic impacts of lower enrollment. The regents say any future cuts would mandate a tuition increase or enrollment cutbacks, and the board is starting to see that students’ pockets are not a bottomless replacement for government funding. Regents also refuse to compromise quality of education any more (to fit within the 2002-03 cuts, the board says it will trim faculty and maintenance), leaving them to resist the ever-increasing demand for enrollment. This should be the best gamble to call the Legislature’s bet. The Capitol piled chips for years, muscling the regents out of the proverbial pot by controlling necessary funds. But UW threatened to freeze enrollment early last spring — thus decreasing the amount of college-educated workers likely to funnel into Wisconsin’s economy — and the ante was not enough for the state to take it seriously. The regents should maintain their stance on enrollment but utilize their legislative inroads to ensure a positive result. Still, the board ought to be applauded for keeping students their highest priority for once.