[media-credit name=’Ben Smidt’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]This is the fifth part of a series profiling the leaders of the UW-Madison campus community.

While University of Wisconsin students go through the daily routine of classes, midterms and partying, one man sits atop Bascom Hill who is responsible for leading an institution of more than 40,000 people. Although UW Chancellor John Wiley works in an expansive office, wears a suit and is rarely seen by most students, he remains passionate about issues that affect students on a daily basis.

Continued debate among university administrators and a student-organized rally at the Capitol two weeks ago show rising tuition is one such issue.

In an exclusive interview, Wiley addressed the importance of discourse and student involvement in addressing the problem.

Students can make a difference, Wiley said, pointing in particular to the power of the student rally on tuition. However, fighting against rising tuition can put students in an awkward position.

“[Students] shouldn’t be the ones who have to make this argument. It should be our elected officials acting on [their] behalf,” he said. “When tuition increases get too outrageous — and most people think double-digit increases several years in a row are — I think it’s understandable that students would stand up and howl about it.”

According to Wiley, the tuition situation across the country has changed significantly over the years.

Wiley said after World War II public sentiment focused on the importance of higher education, which powered the U.S. economy for the second half of the century.

“[Tuition] is dramatically less affordable for students and their families today than it was in the 1960s,” he said.

He contends the difference lies in the state’s budget being drained by a number of other public-policy issues other than higher education.

“I think legislators, governors and the public at large should sit down and ask themselves, ‘What is the appropriate ratio of tuition to total costs?'” Wiley said.

Wiley also said he wants to call the public’s attention to a problem affecting colleges over the last 10 years: cuts to higher education to subsidize depleted state funds.

“State after state, governor after governor, legislature after legislature, is choosing to balance the state budget in part by reducing the support for public higher education and offsetting it with tuition increases,” Wiley said.

Wiley drew a comparison between the average state costs of K-12 and higher education.

The average cost of pre-collegiate education, he said, is more than $100,000 per diploma in taxpayer money. Because people who only have high school diplomas typically have lower-paying jobs, high-school-diploma costs will never be paid back in state and local taxes, according to Wiley.

“The return to the public for their investment in K-12 education comes from some incremental additional investment in college.”

Wiley said he thinks the increase in tuition is a public-policy issue that should spur greater and more inclusive dialogue for everyone.

“My problem with all this is, in part, that there is no one sitting down and thinking about it, discussing it, debating it and taking a vote based on good public policy,” Wiley said. “Instead it’s simple expediency — ‘how do we balance this budget?'”

Higher education is the only state-funded domain with an alternative revenue service — tuition. As a result, Wiley said officials raise tuition to maintain the quality of education.

“If you [raise tuition to offset lower state support] year after year, you’re making a public policy decision by default, and that’s stupid,” he said.

Wiley stressed the importance of students understanding the university’s role in tuition increases.

“I want our students to be real clear, this is not a decision made by the university — not something we want to happen,” he said. “At the same time, if we don’t have [state budget cuts] offset by tuition increases, then we have no choice but to cut back in ways that adversely affect the quality … of education.”

Wiley maintains everyone has a big stake in this issue and has the duty to act.

“I think every citizen should be involved and make their views known to elected officials — that includes students, staff, faculty, parents and all voters,” he said. “I want to send a wakeup call to all … that something serious is going on here and needs our attention.”

Wiley also pointed out UW has the second lowest tuition in the Big Ten, which may be one reason state officials think they have more room to continue raising tuition.

“However long [this trend will] continue, it cannot continue forever. We’ve got to sit down, think about this and fix it.”