The last of five Senate listening sessions at various UW System campuses around the state occurred Tuesday at UW-Madison.
Although it was held during spring break when the majority of students were out of town, some were present to voice their opinions about the budget adjustment.
Rebecca Pifer, finance committee chair for the Associated Students of Madison, addressed several provisions in the assembly budget adjustment that she thought were unfair.
“The state Assembly passed really detrimental rules that when you stop and think about it don?t make any sense,” Pifer said.
The Senate listening session gave people, including UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, the opportunity to voice their concerns about proposed budget cuts, including those to the UW System.
Many addressed the $45 million budget cut proposed by the state Assembly for the UW System, which was in addition to Gov. Scott McCallum?s proposed $50 million cut.
Wiley spoke out against the extent of the cuts, saying UW could accommodate the governor?s budget adjustment proposal, but the additional cuts would be seriously detrimental to the university.
“We had plenty of advanced notice and figured out how we would absorb that amount [$50 million] without major cut backs in services,” Wiley said. “The additional cuts that have been piled on top of those by the assembly are just devastating and there is no way we can absorb those cuts without serious consequences.”
The budget adjustment proposal would raise in-state tuition 8 percent and out-of-state tuition 13 percent, with an additional one-time 10 percent surcharge.
The 23 percent tuition increase for out-of-state students would make UW non-resident tuition the second highest in the Big Ten, with the University of Michigan being the highest.
Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Poplar, chairman of the listening session, expressed his concern about cuts to UW by the Assembly.
“I don?t know what the UW has done so wrong to deserve this unwarranted assault,” Jauch said. “I certainly don?t know what these out-of-state students have done to be attacked in this manner and live in terror in essence because they choose to come to Wisconsin and contribute to our economy.”
Senate Democrats and several citizens voiced concern that undergraduate-level students may not be able to afford tuition. But Wiley said, more importantly, increases in tuition at the graduate level may be seriously detrimental to Wisconsin?s reputation as a top research institution.
“At the graduate level the situation is even worse and I think it?s gotten to the point where it is posing a very serious competitive disadvantage to Wisconsin,” Wiley said. “It is becoming disastrous.”
In addition to the 10 percent surcharge to out-of-state students, the Assembly proposed students pay 100 percent of instruction costs for retaking courses previously failed and any credits earned after 165 without regard to programs with higher degree requirements, advanced placement credits, or language retroactive credits.
“For the sake of the future, for the sake of the economy and its recovery from this recession, it is increasingly important the state prioritize higher education,” Pifer said.
