UW cracks Kiplinger’s 10 best values in public universities

University of Wisconsin has been ranked No. 8 in the nation as one of the best value universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance for the second year in a row.

Kiplinger’s determines the value of universities by assessing admission rates, the percentage of students who return for their sophomore year, student-faculty ratios and four-year graduation rates, according to a UW statement.

“I know it is not just about money, otherwise it would be anyone with cheap tuition,” Susan Fischer, director of UW Office of Student Financial Aid, said.

Kiplinger’s low cost criteria includes low sticker prices, abundant financial aid and low average debt at graduation, according to a UW statement.

UW’s net price has decreased for both in-state and out-of-state students, according to the 2013-14 Data Digest.

“Part of this is we’ve had a tuition freeze for two years,” Fischer said. “Some of our institutional gift-aid for in-state students has gone up.”

Institutional need-based grants have been increasing every year, Fischer said. In 2009-10, UW awarded students with $11,283,092, according to the Data Digest. In 2013-14 that number has increased to $27,228,008.

This increase can be attributed to fundraising, Fischer said.

“The chancellor and her predecessor have been working very hard at raising private money for need-based grant aid for undergraduates,” Fischer said.

UW’s ‘Sweet Scientists’ win The Amazing Race

Nicknamed the “Sweet Scientists” after their research material, ice cream and sugar-free sweetener, a pair of food science Ph.D. students from University of Wisconsin won the most recent season of “The Amazing Race.”

Maya Warren and Amy DeJong went through physical and mental challenges that try to push contestants and test their fears before coming out victorious.

“We did all kinds of things from just general navigation of airports to extreme physical challenges,” DeJong said. “I had to carry a lot of really heavy coconuts around this market in the Philippines and we had to steer these English boats through a stream against the current.”

Not only did the contestants have to participate in challenges and produce footage for 12 episodes of a TV show that filmed over a span of three weeks, but they had to handle all different sorts of time zones and traveling, DeJong said.

“It’s very fast paced and you’re dealing with exhaustion constantly,” DeJong said.

Warren had always wanted to be on “The Amazing Race,” but DeJong said the decision to apply was made in the heat of the moment.

Dejong said the pair found out there was an open call in Chicago and thought, “Well, why not?” They did not know what would come of the audition and the callbacks, she said, but they figured they would never know unless they tried.

DeJong said the most memorable moment of “The Amazing Race” was crossing the finish line.

“We didn’t think that … well, we thought that we could win but it’s different than actually winning,” DeJong said. “That was a very surreal moment.”

It was a great experience because she said they were able to meet people from all walks of life they never would have interacted with in their normal day-to-day life.

While on the race, DeJong learned that she is a person who likes to plan things day-to-day, she said. With “The Amazing Race,” that type of lifestyle is not entirely possible, she said.

“I like to have a set schedule and with the race that’s really not possible,” DeJong said. “You wake up and whether you like it or not, you open a clue and it tells you what you’re doing that day. I had a lot of fun doing that, just letting go of all the work and living in the moment. For me it’s so much more than a TV show. I hope I do outside of the box, adventurous things like this again.”

Madison to provide 4G internet connection

Madison’s Digital Technology Committee is in the process of creating a plan to provide universal Internet access to low-income city neighborhoods at little or no cost.

The committee had previously been in discussion about whether to use Wi-fi or 4G services, but has decided to go with 4G LTE, according to Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, who is a member of the committee.

“The big advantage of 4G over Wi-fi is that you can cover a lot more geographic area with less equipment,” Clear said.

The program will essentially use cell phone technology to provide Internet access to low-income neighborhoods in Madison such as Brentwood, Allied Drive and Darbo Worthington, Clear said.

The committee is now looking for companies to give the city proposals of how they would best cover the targeted areas, Clear said.

“We did a request for information first to see what kind of technologies the vendors might propose, and there was quite a variety,” Clear said.

The deadline for responses will be in March, Clear said. The Digital Technology Committee will review all of the responses and then recommend a vendor to the City Council.

There is $150,000 in the budget for a pilot program, Clear said. He said he is hopeful that a pilot will be up and running by early to mid-summer, but is aware that adjustments may have to be made.

“It’s a pilot, it’s a test,” Clear said. “We want to see how well it works technically, how well it’s received by people, who uses it and how much. Then we can make a decision about going citywide, or to other disadvantaged areas.”

Local businesses on State Street close

University of Wisconsin students returning from winter break will have one less restaurant option to frequent as Cosi’s State Street location closed early January.

The restaurant was closed due to a new CEO and corporate strategy to make Cosi a healthier business, Joyce Lee, the Vice President of Marketing at Cosi, said.

“[Cosi] ended up closing almost a dozen other stores… it is obviously a tough decision to make, but the idea was overall, as we look at all our Cosis, how [do we] make the entire brand healthier,” Lee said.

Cosi will not be affected negatively by the closing of these locations, Lee said. Most of the staff has moved over to the Middleton location.

There are no current plans involving a new Cosi downtown or in Madison, Lee said.

Diego’s Mexican Bistro and Tiki Shack Bar both closed their doors for good over the winter holidays, but no representatives from either establishment were available for comment.

Tiki Shack recently faced scrutiny for repeated underage drinking citations even after the business acquired new management, as previously reported by the Badger Herald.

Bop, a clothing outlet on the 300 block of State Street, also went out of business last month. In April, that space and the neighboring vacancy will be occupied by HopCat, a craft brewery and beer pub.

Obama proposes free community colleges

President Barack Obama announced Jan. 8 he would propose a program making community colleges tuition-free for students nation-wide.

Although the plan offered few specifics, Obama estimated it would save full-time community college students an average of $3,800. Sara Goldrick-Rab, a University of Wisconsin professor of educational policy and sociology who proposed a somewhat similar plan last year, said Obama’s proposal is part of a broader national shift.

“I think it’s part of a much bigger effort to help the U.S. transition from a time when only secondary schooling is widely available to a time when post-secondary schooling is more widely available,” Goldrick-Rab said.

Although more people are going to college, she said they are also having to pay more for it. The average community college student still has to pay $8,000 out of pocket to go, she said.

Goldrick-Rab said this kind of tuition often affects students’ abilities to do well in post-secondary education, because they often have to work in addition to their schoolwork. This is especially true because often these students come from families where they have even less money, she said.

“I think it’s important to understand the bigger picture of higher ed,” Goldrick-Rab said. “Madison is one kind of place. Madison is a particular kind of school, but there’s a much bigger environment out there. And this is part of a national movement. So it’s exciting, very exciting.”

Gov. Walker gives annual State of State address

Gov. Scott Walker advised turning away from federal government mandates that “get in the way of innovation and growth” in Wisconsin during his State of the State speech Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Walker proposed eliminating Common Core education standards and said education standards should be set by people in Wisconsin, not at a national level.

Walker highlighted tax cuts, specifically property taxes. Property taxes on a typical Wisconsin home decreased by $141 from December 2010 to December 2014, he said.

He said he was proud of the property tax decrease and wanted to continue the trend for the future.

Walker discussed job creation and unemployment rate during his speech. The year-over-year numbers indicate the creation of 51,000 private sector jobs and the private sector job growth is the highest since the late 1990s, he said. The unemployment rate has improved, dropping from 9.2 percent in January 2010 to the current 5.2 percent, he said.

With Attorney General Brad Schimel, Walker said he would be preparing a lawsuit to challenge new federal energy regulations. Walker said reports show regulations could make Wisconsin lose thousands of jobs because the state is heavily dependent on manufacturing.

Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said in a statement he believed Walker was not putting Wisconsin workers and families first.

Barca said the focus should be placed on issues like job creation and fair wages because they are most important to Wisconsin families.