Amid calls for a tuition freeze from state lawmakers, financial records found the University of Wisconsin System’s reserve funds are expected to grow $150 million by the end of June.
This information comes directly after Wisconsin legislators
from both parties harshly criticized the UW System’s leaders following the
recent discovery UW System had more than $1 billion in reserve funds, $648 million of which is unrestricted.
Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, who is chair of the Assembly’s Colleges and Universities Committee, said the $648 million is a full
quarter of the UW System’s budget.
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the projected growth in reserve funds is a “very high level” and a “very preliminary prediction.” He added the true amount of money in the reserve funds for the UW System would be uncertain until the end of June, and the $150 million increase is the uppermost possible outcome.
The UW System’s assets grew $200 million since 2011, according to Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s April 19 report. If UW’s $150 million growth prediction is accurate, the system’s reserves would increase about 75 percent more within the next two months.
Nass attacked UW System leaders for the reserve funds and
insisted an immediate tuition freeze for UW System schools be implemented.
“It’s a breach of public trust that these educational crooks
would ask for more and more when they have this much already,” Nass said.
The proposed tuition freeze would hold tuition at its
current levels for at least two years and has support from both sides of the aisle,
Nass said.
The annual increase in tuition at UW schools has been 5.5
percent in recent years. Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, said he is “astonished” the UW System still continues
to accumulate such an enormous amount in tuition and tax dollars.
“The UW System has sufficient means,” said Kooyenga. “We would all like to see a pause on the rising tuition.”
This sentiment was echoed by Gov. Scott Walker, who also
called for a freeze in tuition after seeing the full extent of the UW Systems reserve funds. Kooyenga said the governor is planning to amend the
budget to mandate a tuition freeze with bipartisan support.
“Under normal circumstances, the Board of Regents would be
the deciding body regarding a tuition freeze,” Giroux said. “But if the budget
ends up restricting the amount of money designated to UW schools, the Board of Regents
would not have the final say this time.”
An issue still up for legislative debate is the amount of
funding for UW System schools generated though tax revenue. Kooyenga said he believes the state budget should eliminate the $181 million proposed funding to the system, as it can subsist off the massive reserve funds they have acquired.
