A proposed merger between the University of Wisconsin campuses in Waukesha and Milwaukee would be less cost-efficient than other alternatives, UW System President Kevin Reilly said at a legislative hearing Tuesday.

Several UW administrators testified in opposition to the merger before the state Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee.

Reilly acknowledged that in its current state, Waukesha County is in need of a "greater portion of resources than our education system can provide in order to bolster its success," but he pointed to two other options on the table.

University officials said their goal is to expand access to baccalaureate and graduate degrees and provide research opportunities that can turn into economic successes.

According to Reilly, two other potential routes include creating a four-year stand-alone institution at UW-Waukesha — currently a two-year school — or implementing the "university center model" at UW-Waukesha, essentially expanding the services it currently offers.

UW Colleges and UW-Extension Chancellor David Wilson said one problem with the potential merger is that the Waukesha campus is essentially merged with other UW colleges.

"All 13 of the UW colleges are a centralized set of administrative operations," Wilson said. "By detaching the Waukesha campus … from the UW Colleges network and actually reattaching it to another institution, there would be no efficiencies gained."

On the contrary, Wilson added, the merger could actually make UW Colleges much less efficient.

UW-Waukesha Dean Patrick Schmidt said the school represents about one-sixth of the business the UW Colleges network does overall.

Both Reilly and Wilson expressed concerns regarding the cost of a merger and the elimination of the liberal arts-style education currently provided at UW-Waukesha.

According to Wilson, faculty interaction provided to students through small class sizes and the affordability of UW-Waukesha — which, with the other two-year colleges, has the lowest tuition in the UW System — would be risked in a merger.

Schmidt said the liberal arts education provided by UW-Waukesha offers a key alternative to the more "professional and technical" education provided by other schools in the UW System.

"A liberal arts education prepares students for change, and change … is the only constant our students are going to encounter in their careers," Schmidt said.

Reilly said the cost of changing UW-Waukesha into a four-year institution would place a $1.2 million tax burden — now paid for by Waukesha County — onto the rest of the state. With additional facility construction, Reilly said the price tag could be even higher.

According to Lynn Paulson, assistant vice president for budget planning for the UW System, the merge would force UW-Waukesha students to pay UW-Milwaukee's tuition, which is significantly higher.

Reilly said there were simply more affordable choices than merging.

"You wouldn't merge for the sake of merging," Reilly said. "You merge because you believe it would be more cost-efficient, you'd be able (to) offer more degree programs, you'd be able to enroll more students."