In wake of the announcement of an initiative that would increase tuition, financial aid and academic services for University of Wisconsin students, Chancellor Biddy Martin will host a forum tonight to field questions, comments and concerns of students and other community members.
The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates would increase in-state tuition by $250 and out-of-state tuition by $750 per year over a four-year period, after which rates will top out at $1,000 and $3,000, respectively, more than current rates.
The funding brought in by the initiative would allow for increased financial aid, the restoration of faculty seats and the improvement of students’ academic experiences.
“We really genuinely want to know what students and other members of the community have to say,” Martin said. “When it comes to education and student services, we really need to know from students whether our assumptions, based on listening to students over time, are actually going to be confirmed when students think about this in a focused way.”
The forum will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Room 19 of Ingraham Hall, where Martin will speak about the initiative and invite input.
An additional forum sponsored by Associated Students of Madison will take place March 30 at 4 p.m. in Gordon Commons. While they were originally asked to sponsor both forums, Wiegand said the short period of time between Martin’s announcement and the first forum lead to ASM only accepting to sponsor the second forum.
“I said if students are going to have one day before I don’t want to sponsor it [because the students would] think we aren’t getting them enough notice,” Wiegand said.
Wiegand said overall the forums will provide an important means for students to communicate their thoughts and suggestions, adding she thinks student input is a priority for Martin before the initiative goes before the Board of Regents in May.
Martin met with several groups on campus Wednesday to discuss the initiative, including members of the press and ASM representatives, where she emphasized student input will be key.
“I’ll use all the feedback, as will the rest of the administration, regardless of what its content is to inform what we will do. There’s no feedback that’s not going to come into consideration for what goes forward ultimately,” Martin said.
She said all proposals and suggestions will be weighed against benefits the initiative would provide to students in its current form, which she said are key to gaining student support for the initiative.
Under the proposal, students coming from families that make less than $80,000 a year with demonstrated need would receive grants to offset the tuition increase. According to UW Financial Aid Director Susan Fischer, this is expected to apply to between 6,000 and 7,000 students, though Martin noted the aid generated would benefit many more than this.
Martin later noted at Wednesday night’s ASM Student Council meeting the current median income of student families is $90,000. She said this means the university is not attracting enough low- and middle-income students.
“Tuition, and even tuitions plus fees, puts us at the bottom of our peer group along with Iowa,” Martin said. “It’s a wonderful value, but its academic stature suggests tuition here needs to be and ought to be higher.”
Martin said the $80,000 benchmark was chosen because it is significantly higher than the median annual income for Wisconsin households.
“Should it be higher than 80? That’s a question we should discuss,” Martin said. “There has to be a cutoff somewhere, and there are going to be people disappointed because they didn’t get [aid].”
— Taylor Cox contributed to this report.
