The UW System is one of three groups forced to bear the brunt of the state’s budget deficit, under Gov. Scott McCallum’s proposal.

The governor’s state plan, announced Tuesday, includes a $51 million slash in funding for the UW System, including state, two-year and technical schools, though the plan does not specify where in the system the money should be cut from.

According to UW-Madison chancellor John Wiley, deciding what portion of the cut goes to the state’s top education institution is in the hands of the regents. It is likely, Wiley said, for UW to receive more than its share of cuts.

“Madison makes up about a quarter of the UW System and if the cuts were to be evenly distributed, Madison would have a 25 percent cut in funds,” Wiley said. “But historically, Madison has taken a larger cut than other schools.”

This means cuts in funding for UW will range from 25 to 40 percent.

Until university officials know exactly how much of system cuts will be from Madison, it is difficult to speculate which programs would face cuts.

Wiley said funding for the Madison Initiative, a Regent plan designed to increase UW’s national reputation and make the school more competitive, would receive less than half of the money proposed this year. But he said the lag in funding may be temporarily pushed back.

“I am thinking, hoping and expecting a delay in the budget to the second year,” Wiley said. “The second year is where most of the funding is.”

Wiley said UW had already begun making preparations for budget cuts before the governor announced cuts.

McCallum expressed the priority he has given to maintaining affordable tuition rates for in-state college students in his budget address. He said because he reduced his original financial aid increases, he does not want to give too much power to the Board of Regents to raise tuition.

“I don’t want these reductions passed on to students, so tuition increases ? must be passed by the Legilature’s Joint Finance Committee,” he said.

The governor’s proposal capped a tuition increase at 10 percent, but the Board of Regents had already passed a 9.1 percent tuition increase for next year.

“Madison would very likely not try to get money back in the form of tuition increase,” Wiley said. “I will argue that we should not recoup state cuts with a tuition increase and I don’t think the Regents want that either.”

But Paul Barrows, vice chancellor for student affairs, said students don’t know the full impact on either tuition or financial aid, and won’t for months.

“Students don’t know the full impact of the budget yet,” Barrows said. “The whole state is suffering right now — the university just has to take its full share.”

Despite a tuition increase, there will be an increase in higher education grants.

“Accompanying the tuition increase is enough additional scholarship money so any student who needs extra help to cover tuition,” Wiley said. “I am assuming that we can do that again.”

Local governments will be asked to make the most drastic cuts under the governor’s proposal. In his speech to the Legislature, the governor proposed a three-year plan that would end with the elimination of the shared revenue program. The program currently allocates $1 billion to local government. Funding to municipal governments would be cut $350 million. The cuts would mean a four percent reduction in spending for county and municipal governments.

In the plan, McCallum proposes borrowing an additional $794 million from the state’s tobacco settlement to fix the state’s budget deficit. The state is currently using $450 million from the settlement on the budget.

Additional cuts will come from a reduction in state spending and state employee layoffs.

Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison said the actual language of the plan could bring some surprises and something to think about.

“This is a step back in the education process,” Black said. “And the rhetoric doesn’t add up; the overall package isn’t viable.”

Wiley said the university will work within the next year to regain state support — and funding.

“We are hopeful,” Wiley said. “We will fight hard to get state support back and fight hard to minimize potential tuition increase.”