Opinion
Prioritize access over UW quality
Looking for a print version?
Simply use your browser’s ‘Print’ command and a printer-friendly document will be generated automatically.
Also by Jason Smathers:
Sharing tools:
E-mail this article:
This seems like déjà vu to me.
During my senior year, I was a student representative at a few Racine Unified School District board meetings. I sat agape in disbelief at hearing board members wince at the mention of a $12 million shortfall and ensuing referendum, and, minutes later, describe a plan to build a multi-million dollar science addition onto Horlick High School as a “slam dunk.”
Similar thoughts ruminated when I saw the Madison Metropolitan School District try to work through a $10 million deficit while furiously debating whether or not to approve The Studio School, which many argued was crucial to achieving Madison’s educational mission.
And now, as Chancellor John Wiley takes his leave and Associated Students of Madison looks for an issue to stake their reputation on, I’m seeing the same conundrum again. While state funding for the University of Wisconsin is drying up and many are advocating for the state to do more, UW is continually planning on expansion.
In each of these cases, the reasoning is understandable: Educators don’t want to sacrifice their mission due to budget constraints. However, universities, unlike K-12 public education, must also balance their emphasis on the quality of education with accessibility. Until recently, UW has been straddling both. However, it’s hard to believe that balance will hold much longer considering Wisconsin’s budget woes. Even if the state Legislature finds a way to plug the nearly $650 million shortfall with the budget repair bill, Wisconsin’s economy isn’t going to bounce back any time soon.
Given the fact that our Legislature isn’t exactly in a position to shower anyone with gifts, the UW System may have to prioritize its budget requests. According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article earlier this month, student senates from six campuses — Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Eau Claire, Stout, Fond du Lac and Superior — presented the UW System Board of Regents with a list of priorities they would like to see taken up with the Legislature. While the requests included the standard goals of increasing both quality and accessibility, the latter seemed to outweigh the former. Students asked that the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant increase dollar-for-dollar with tuition and that tuition be capped at the rate of inflation. Sure, they argued for higher professor salaries, but they also said such raises must come strictly from state funds. It’s clear that increasing costs and mounting debt is not going to allow students to continue footing the bill.
Of course, some here at UW-Madison have taken the other road. The fairly recent trend toward differential tuition approved by the School of Business and discussed by the School of Engineering seems to argue the education received is far more important than how many people are able to afford it. With students being bottlenecked into classes and professors leaving for better offers, it makes sense to take the quality of our education into our own hands if the state won’t.
It’s easy to get trapped in an endless series of counterarguments when trying to balance the two. However, one point may put things in perspective. In his final sit-down interview with the Badger Herald Editorial Board, Mr. Wiley asked those individuals around the table what they felt their degree was worth. It was obvious from the murmured answers that few could put a strict numerical value on their education. However, after some contemplation, he broke the silence and stated that calculating a number of factors — financial aid, the students degree program, the cost of tuition, etc. — the worth of a UW degree ranged from $250,000 to $800,000.
With that in mind, consider the question of what’s more important: increasing the worth of that degree or ensuring more people can obtain it? If we’re talking about our own desire for profit maximization, then we’re going to make sure that degree is worth as much as possible. But when UW is treated in the most holistic sense as the state’s economic engine, the economic and social benefits to be had from a larger pool of college graduates is far greater. More grads mean higher median income, which means more tax revenue and a more secure economy for Wisconsin. So in this sense, the priority of the state should certainly be put on accessibility first. That means more direct focus on increasing financial aid or, at the very least — and this may be the easiest solution — stop approving building projects that have seen systemwide segregated fees increase at faster rates than tuition. UW may drop a little in the rankings, but if students are continually priced out of higher education, this state will continue to fall by the wayside.
That being said, this campus can’t paint itself into a corner. In contrast to the rest of the UW System, the Madison campus’ status as a research university and “public ivy” makes prestige and quality far more important than accessibility. Although tuition caps would be a great relief to the student body, they could prevent an increase intended to maintain the world-class education students at UW-Madison receive. And if the value of that college degree plummets because of it, accessibility will be meaningless.
It shouldn’t be a choice; it should be a balance. Through lobbying and negotiations, we may be able to fine-tune that balance rather than succumb to one end of the spectrum.
But that depends on the Legislature. And that is a whole other column.
Jason Smathers (jsmathers@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in journalism and history. See the second half of this series Wednesday.
4 Comments | Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Herald Blogs
The Beat Goes On
Muckrakers
President’s Visit Marked a Speech to One of the Last Groups Not Critical of Him
Extra Points
Top Classified Ads (view all)
HOUSES FOR Fall 2010. All houses are on W Dayton or N Bassett. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 bedrooms. All have parking. madisoncampusrentals.com
Why should we be complacent? If we can increase tuition (while increasing financial aid), why not? Forward, right?
The arguments presented in this editorial have several logical flaws. The author’s argument that more grads will lead to higher median income which will cause more tax to be collected is unfounded. Simply producing more, less equipped grads does not make them competitive in the job market and therefore employable. If we lower the standards of this institution and produce graduates who are not educated enough to serve the state, how could we possibly fulfill the Wisconsin Idea?
Note that I’m not saying sacrifice anywhere here. There is a prioritization. What actually requires more attention — increasing the quality of education or high school grads ability to come here? I’m saying it’s the latter. You can still increase professor salaries, but if UW is going to agressively demand a certain budget item, it should be financial aid first.
Unless you’re arguing the current state of our UW System is ragged and producing dunces, I fail to see where quality drops preciptously if we put the focus on getting kids into this university rather than funding more building projects and administration posts. And one can argue that UW is only arguing for essentials, but come next budget roundup, we’ll see what the deem to be “essential.”
UW Madison is cheap for instate. That is a fact. It need be no cheaper nor should they enlarge the school one bit. Watering down quality is not the road to riches for the state It is the road to becoming Nebraska. Thtese days only excellence attracts new busisness. That’s why Google and Microsoft are now landing in Madison. There is plenty of capacity in the state to produce average quality college grads. They are located in Oshkosh and Green Bay and nearly every other town in the state.