The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents received grades ranging from “A” to “C” on the state of higher education in Wisconsin on Thursday.
Dr. Joni Finney of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education spoke to the board and discussed how efficiently the state has dealt with higher education issues.
She gave the state an “A” for strong preparation, a “B” for how many high school graduates further their education, a “C” for affordability and a “B” for helping students achieve their educational goals.
“Overall, [this is] a very strong performance if you compare all 50 states. Many states will be facing serious structural deficits,” she said. “Wisconsin will not be one of them.”
Nonetheless, she pointed out that financial aid is in the middle of tough times and outlined several recent patterns mirroring this crisis.
She pointed out, for example, that purchasing power has declined within the past decade, resulting in a shift from student grants to loans. Families earning the bottom 40 percent of annual income have been the ones to take this hit the hardest, she said, with a community college income sometimes accounting for 14 percent of their yearly salary.
Finney also detailed two extreme ends of financial aid programs, those utilized in Georgia and California. In Georgia, financial aid is administered based on merit, such as extracurricular activities and grade point averages. California, however, uses a system based on need. Whether to implement merit- or need-based policies is a matter administrators and legislators need to examine, she said, pointing out that both can have benefits and disadvantages.
Lastly, Finney looked at financial issues in relation to Wisconsin and proposed solutions, outlining various facts and figures such as increases in individual student aid and appropriations and Wisconsin’s pipeline system, among others.
“Wisconsin is not doing great on financial aid, is what it’s saying. Tuition has gone up a lot and grant aid has not kept up with that,” she said. “[Wisconsin] is doing better than the national average, but I don’t think that’s much consolation.”
Sharon Wilhelm, director of the UW Office of Policy Analysis and Research, added several more figures to the lecture. She pointed out that approximately 40,000 UW System students receive financial aid in a given year, equaling about a half billion dollars.
The Pell Grant is the second largest financial aid program for UW students, and more than 60 percent of these graduates leave school with an average of $16,000 in debt, she said.
In addition, Frank Goldberg, associate vice president of policy analysis and research, later addressed the UW System’s standing in terms of baccalaureate programs, a solution for which “there is no silver bullet.”
“Wisconsin has about 24 percent of its population with baccalaureate degree level or above. The national average is 26 percent,” Lyall said, which along with availability of jobs, contributes to “brain-drain” within the state.
In order to mend this rift, Goldberg feels Wisconsin must look at a “range of sectors” that include technical schools, private institutions and public universities, and compare this information to surrounding states.
Lyall said the board will continue to analyze the financial straits of Wisconsin’s higher education.
“We want to look at Wisconsin’s financial aid and what surrounding states are doing, looking especially at financial aid adequacy trends and policy issues that are embedded in financial aid issues,” UW System President Katharine Lyall said. “It’s absolutely critical for our work and for our students [to have] access to the system.”
