Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, chair of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, has proposed a new solution to save the state money.

By combining the 13 University of Wisconsin two-year schools with the 13 UW four-year schools, Kreibich said he believes the administrative efficiencies could be improved.

“Wisconsin is the only state in the country with two separate higher-education systems, and bureaucracies,” Kreibich said in a release. “The status quo in Wisconsin’s higher-education system is unacceptable.”

The UW System has lost millions of dollars from budget reductions over the past three years, and Kreibich said the mission of two-year universities is obsolete with recent transfer agreements between the Technical College System and the UW System.

UW System spokesperson Doug Bradley said Kreibich’s idea has already been “in the works” and consolidation has been an important topic of recent Board of Regents meetings.

An independent study of the UW Colleges and Extension was also recently completed, leading Reilly to issue recommendations regarding the issue.

“The regents and president will consider [Kreibich’s proposal]. If there’s legislation, [they’ll] look at it,” Bradley said.

UW System Student Regent Beth Richlen said although Kreibich does a lot of good things for the students of the university, his idea is “very sketchy, at most.”

“It’s just an idea he’s floating out there. [Kreibich] has no idea how it’s going to work,” Richlen said.

Kreibich has only informally proposed his ideas in a press release, which was released Wednesday. No legislation has been introduced yet, although his release indicated the proposal would strengthen four-year institutions, improve educational access and alleviate credit-transfer issues.

Shared Governance Director for United Council Dan Bush expressed his concern with Kreibich’s idea, especially because of the lack of information and detail surrounding the new proposal.

“This just raises a red flag with us [because] there is a lot of stuff here that, on first glance, maybe seems like a good idea,” Bush said. “[However], when you look at how little it’s costing to educate these [two-year college students] and what they’re going to lose out, it seems like it would cost more in the long room.”

The idea of merging two-year and four-year colleges is not unique to Wisconsin.

According to Richlen, Florida and Minnesota have tried similar solutions. Since the consolidation, the colleges have each kept their separate identities, she said, adding they have the same administration but different standards for each school.

“[Two-year] UW college professors are already doing the same job for less money,” Bush said. “We’re wondering where is this money to be saved without just getting rid of financial-aid services, or getting rid of the colleges completely.”