Throughout the past several years, the state has significantly slashed funding for the University of Wisconsin, passing greater costs onto individual students and families. Mired in the worst budget problem it has ever faced, the state’s flagship university faces obstacles in pursuing the public mission on which it was founded.

The university historically pays for its undergraduate education with a combination of state support and tuition. While the total cost of earning a college degree has remained relatively flat in the past decade, the proportion of state contribution has shrunk considerably.

According to a report released by the Office of the Provost, state taxes now make up approximately 15 percent of the university budget, compared to the 23.5 percent it represented 10 years ago.

As a result, per-student state appropriation declined even more as UW received its largest freshman class ever in 2012. The number of out-of-state students enrolled at UW slightly exceeded the 25 percent cap set by the UW System Board of Regents. Consequently, the Board of Regents adjusted its policy to increase the cap by 2.5 percent in the following academic year.

This policy change could help the university generate more revenue, since non-resident students pay nearly three times the price of in-state tuition, according to the Office of the Registrar’s website.

UW professor Harry Brighouse, an expert on education reform regarding choice and privatization, said the move is a “justified compromise” rather than a solution.

“Our primary goal is to serve this state, that’s what our history is, that’s what our identity is and that is why the state does support us,” Brighouse said. “But the environment is not a good environment, so you have to make some compromises.”

Another compromise was the increase of resident tuition. Last year the Board of Regents bumped up in-state undergraduate tuition for the 2012-2013 academic year by 5.5 percent, the maximum allowed under the current state law for the sixth consecutive year.

According to the report from the Provost’s Office, tuition revenue now makes up a larger proportion of the university budget than state support. University Committee Chair Mark Cook said the university is still struggling with the same problem – perpetual state cuts – as three years ago when former chancellor Biddy Martin failed to remove some state oversight over the campus.

“The state did not want that to happen,” Cook said. “But eventually the state is going to be such a minor investor in the university…if it keeps going in that direction.”

Cook said the state’s share of the university budget is unlikely to increase in the near future since the state has other priorities.

Other public universities have proposed to freeze in-state tuition for a certain amount of funding from the state, but it is uncertain whether this strategy could work in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Burlington, said increasing a reasonable amount of in-state tuition is acceptable.

“If given the choice of having a declining level of support but allowing for bigger tuition, or keeping everything stagnant and allowing the quality to go down, I would much rather choose to ask students to invest a little bit more in their education,” Vos said. “If you look at the level of tuition they are looking to charge, it’s still a bargain.”

Bargain or not, some UW student leaders do not think the quality of instruction can be used to justify the continuously increasing tuition.

Daniel Statter, chair of the Associated Students of Madison’s Legislative Affairs Committee, leads the committee in lobbying for tuition protection with state legislators. He said Vos presents a false dichotomy.

“When we see the tuition increase, we also see a new dining hall across the street, we also then see two unions that raise our fees. We continue to read that some of our best faculty members are leaving for Texas Tech to make more money,” Statter said. “So if it’s all about quality then there would be no conversation. Unfortunately it is not as easy of a comparison as the speaker suggested. ”

He added his committee has been in meeting with the UW System and has explained that instruction is of the utmost importance to students.

Sheri Hanley, whose daughter is a third year student on campus, said so far the increase of in-state tuition has not changed her view on the investment.

She said although the price of education has increased, she thinks the educational quality is worth the price tag.

“I would have an issue if the quality of the education did not grow or stay the same along with the increases,” she said.

Another reason for the state’s disinvestment is that money spent on higher education may not stay in Wisconsin. According to Brighouse, a key benefit of flagship universities is the supply of high-skilled workers for the state economy. However, many of them leave after graduation.

“High skilled workers leave Midwestern states,” Brighouse said. “Investing in them is a good thing, but whether it’s a good bet, I don’t know.”

Still, he said an easy solution to the university’s dilemma is to move toward a privatized model similar to the highest ranked public institutions in the country.

However, for both Brighouse and Cook, the easy solution is hardly an ideal one.

“I think most of our faculty do not want to be in a private institution. We like to be available to everybody,” Cook said.

Brighouse said he agreed the university does not have to shift to a private model despite the hardship it faces.

It should look for ways to continue to carry out its public mission in the current circumstances, Brighouse said.

“Everybody I have encountered in the leadership here clearly has a sense of the university having a public mission, but we need to figure out how to fulfill it,” he said.

Cook suggested one alternative revenue model for the university is entrepreneurship.

Outreach to non-traditional students is one way to generate revenue, he said, adding other possible income sources could include patents and philanthropy.

“You need to be more creative…and you have to get a little bit from everywhere,” Cook said.