End of the UW tuition freeze? Looks like it's in the pipeline

The UW System has seen its in-state tuition levels frozen for the last 7 years. That might be nice for students and their parents, but the UW System also hasn't received more funding from state taxpayers to make up the difference, and the state's demographics has meant that total enrollment in the System has declined in recent years.

Therefore, the UW System has had to deal with less money from two sources as costs have increased over time, resulting in the System struggling to make ends meet.

And now, even the GOP-friendly outgoing President of the UW System is telling a State Senate committee that in-state tuition is going to have to increase at the campuses in order for it to survive in the 2020s.

The UW System Board of Regents is eyeing a tuition increase in the next budget biennium, University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross told a legislative committee Wednesday....

The tuition freeze has been in place for in-state undergraduates at four-year campuses since 2013 and in 12 of the last 14 years at the two-year campuses. The state budget passed last summer requires tuition remain frozen through the 2020-21 school year.

"We’re exploring a process, and I probably won’t be here in August, but I believe this process will be embraced by the board where they will put forward a tuition increase a year ahead of the implementation," said Cross, who plans to retire when a new president is expected to begin sometime this summer. "In the coming biennial budget request, you will see the proposed tuition increase as a part of the revenue projections for the coming year."

As Kelley Meyerhoffer noted in the Wisconsin State Journal article about the committee meeting, allowing the Board of Regents to ask for the tuition hike might be a nice way for legislators to end the freeze and allow the UW a better chance to compete, while passing the buck on responsibility for that increase.

[T]he [tuition] freeze pinches campuses’ financial flexibility, particularly when coupled with cuts in state money in some previous budget cycles. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has estimated the System has been cut by about $1.1 billion since 2011.

Regents have spoken at multiple meetings in recent years about the need to return tuition-setting authority to the board. The appointed body faces less political pressure than elected lawmakers when it comes to voting on tuition increases.

President Cross's comments came as part of a discussion of a different tuition-related bill. That bill will also allow for in-state tuition raises, but in a different way, as it would do what is known as "cohort" tuition. Under cohort tuition, it would be raised for a given year, but would stay at that same level for students over the next 4 years (for example, the students enrolling in Fall 2020 would pay the same tuition as they graduate in 2024).

The UW System said that cohort tuition would allow for more money to come into the schools, but because students would have different tuition bills based on when they entered the UW System, it also would add costs.

A cohort tuition model would significantly increase the complexity of the tuition setup in the campus' Student Information Systems. Costs are related to reconfigurations of the various implementations of the Student Information Systems at each campus to accommodate the cohort tuition model proposed by the bill. Estimated costs for all campuses, except for UW-Madison, is $2.5-3 million for one-time expenses. Estimated costs for UW-Madison are $522,720 for one-time expenses and $243,875 for ongoing operational costs.

There would be increased revenue due to a tuition increase, however the cohort model would impact those revenues compared to an increase in the full base. For example, increasing base tuition for state-supported resident undergraduate students, including differential, by 1 percent would generate an estimated $8.5 million in tuition revenues annually. In the cohort tuition model, any tuition increase would generate approximately 25 percent of the overall amount as tuition would only increase for new, incoming students and remain static for others. The impact of this would most likely be that UW System would continue to have tuition revenue shortfall when considering factors such as pay plan and fringe benefits, which are funded in part with tuition revenue.

Is there extra funding in this bill to help the UW schools pay for the time and adjustments to all of these different tuition bills that students have to pay? OF COURSE NOT. It's yet another unfunded mandate thrown on the UW System to have them carry out another stunt by the ALEC Crew in the Legislature, in order to give the appearance of "controlling costs" to the low-educated, resentful constituencies that many GOPs represent.

It's obvious at this point that even some Republicans see that the UW System and the state's workforce is suffering due to their starving of the System, and that they are not able to compete. And I don't think many voters are fooled these days into thinking that there hasn't been a cost the "tuition freeze without funding stunt", especially as UW-Madison has fallen to its lowest research ranking since 1972, and other campuses have had to lay off staff and reduce majors as resources dry up.

But I wouldn't count on GOPs to make too much of an effort to help the UW recover from the damage imposed on it in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan. After all, if more Wisconsinites can think critically and have experiences beyond their own backyard, it hurts the GOP's chances of staying in power.

EDIT- Sure enough, here's UW-Whitewater having to cut staff and classes next year due to a lack of resources. The starvation has to end.

UWW College of Letters and Sciences will be cut 14% in the upcoming year. The current plan is to eliminate 2/3rds of our great academic staff. pic.twitter.com/BhqaSgBNDg

— Jeff Olson (@ProfOTweets) January 23, 2020