With the University of Wisconsin System and other public universities across the country increasing tuition to offset massive budget cuts, students are turning to private universities for their college choices.

Enrollment in Wisconsin private universities has shot up 60 percent in the last 20 years. 54,000 students are currently enrolled in Wisconsin’s 20 private colleges and universities, according to the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

“I think in some ways, private colleges and universities can be looked at as providing budgetary relief for the UW System,” said Dr. Rolf Wegenke, president of the association.

To educate the 54,000 students currently enrolled in the private system, the UW System would have to provide an additional $386 million in operating costs, Wegenke said.

Private colleges and universities are seen by some as a viable alternative to public education. Smaller class size for some is beneficial. The average class size in Wisconsin’s private colleges is 17. The average class size at UW is 29, according to the UW’s Office of Budget Planning and Analysis.

Wisconsin private colleges are also not as sensitive to statewide budget cuts because they are funded by private donations, not taxpayers.

Recent increases in public institutions’ tuition have made the cost of a state-run university comparable to private colleges. Average undergraduate tuition fees for the Wisconsin private system in the 2001-2002 school year were $16,100. The average financial aid a student received from the private system was $12,055, leaving the student to pay $4,100 out of pocket.

About 75 percent of financial aid consists of grants that do not have to be repaid, according to a 2003-2004 Association fact sheet. In 2001, UW undergraduate students paid an average of $4,089.

However, Wegenke thinks it is a myth that private colleges and universities directly benefit from UW System budget cuts.

“We’re benefiting from increased enrollment, but we have more applicants that we can admit right now. There is no direct effect for us from the UW System budget cuts,” Wegenke said.

UW professor of higher education Clifton Conrad stated the more equalized cost of private and public education in Wisconsin can potentially shift patterns in enrollment.

“It heightens the relative attractiveness of private universities — you don’t have to pay much more to attend,” Conrad said.

Conrad has studied the “prestige model” in higher education. According to Conrad, this model studies the belief that in general, people associate private universities with “good” reputations, and in turn they assume the education is of a higher quality.

“One of the things private colleges do is control prestige — they can be selective. At Harvard, for example, they don’t say anything about what happens once the students are actually there,” Conrad said.

Wisconsin’s private-college system does not fall into the typical pattern of being considerably pricier after financial aid is applied. Conrad said prestige, not money, guides some students’ decisions to attend private colleges.

“Prestige and quality are not the same thing. Sometimes people choose prestige over quality. Many think the more they charge, the better they are,” Conrad said.

Conrad did not comment about the quality of Wisconsin’s private colleges, but noted that UW, the University of Michigan, and the University of California at Los Angeles and Berkeley are among the best public universities.