The Badger Herald

OPINION & EDITORIAL

University of Wisconsin System hinges on budget allocations

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Also by Ben Patterson:

What would Jesus do with millions? (November 6, 2007)
University of Wisconsin System hinges on budget allocations (October 9, 2007)
Homeless need to find their bootstraps and pull up (September 25, 2007)
Bush veto puts spotlight on incompetent government (May 4, 2007)
UW to fund discrimination (April 20, 2007)

by Ben Patterson

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

I'm curious when all this griping about our leaders is going to get us somewhere. Day in and day out we collectively whine, bitch and moan about what our leaders are doing wrong or how they should be handling our money and government. It seems like it never gets old.

Funny thing is right now there is actually an argument that might deserve some merit in this "what can you do for me" political world. No surprise that it has to do with money, but what's more important is that it will directly affect your future.

What I speak of is the issue ASM recently brought to my attention. As "unfundworthy" as I believe many of ASM's groups are, they actually made an important, relevant argument to the university, its board of regents and the state Legislature.

The state Legislature has delayed finalizing the state's budget, which in turn means that UW's budget will be delayed as well. This may all come across as some red tape that officials needs to cut, however, that one class you've waited to take until next semester in order to graduate may not be available because of this sticky red tape. UW cannot truly make confirmed allocations of funds to departments until the state Legislature gets around to putting some numbers down. And when they finally do, those numbers might be a little lower than years previous.

The effects of the state Legislature's negligence to the needs of UW won't just be felt on a year-to-year basis. The Legislature is setting itself up to have some dark years ahead. The first effect of our Legislature's carelessness will directly affect your ability to enroll in desired classes. Some majors could potentially be lost if funding is at a minimum. For students currently in less populated departments, lack of funding could jeopardize their academic career.

If you spent 3 1/2 years in a major that suddenly was dropped due to budget constraints, what would your opinions be toward state officials? How would your future look? How likely would you be to remain in Wisconsin after college? None of those answers seem optimistic.

In order for our state to grow and prosper, we need to have a highly educated population with an abundance of opportunity in all realms of society. The state Legislature cutting funds to the state's top university is essentially saying your education and future in Wisconsin does not rank among its top priorities.

Moreover, our university has been dropping in national rankings as of late. With potentially less funding, it can only be expected that our rankings will continue to drop. Lower rankings nationwide will hurt the university's image and may attract a lower-caliber student. In effect, your degree here will mean less and less as the years go by, and our reputation as a top public school will continue to dwindle.

Our tuition continues to rise, while the quality of our education drops. Our best professors are leaving for positions where competitive pay is a norm, not an exception. How much longer can we continue to retain quality professors at a bargain price?

But the biggest issue surrounding this ordeal is the fact that you simply may not be able to attend school any longer. Yes, that's right. Without a budget in place, UW cannot accurately coordinate financial aid for students. The potential for drastic cuts in the financial aid department is a real possibility. So, all those years you've invested time, money, hard work and stress could unfortunately come to a rather abrupt halt if you rely heavily on financial aid.

Our state officials' negligence concerning this university and others in the UW System has the potential for a drastic number of problems in the years to come — not just for the universities, but also for the state as a whole. This bureaucratic procrastination is going to have a trickle-down effect if action isn't taken to reverse this low funding trend. The best part of these officials' ignorance is that it is all going to come back and bite them in the ass. Hopefully, they got a good enough education to figure that out.

Ben Patterson (bpatterson@wisc.edu) . is a junior majoring in political science

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