On Thursday, the UW Board of Regents will vote on Universities of Wisconsin president Jay Rothman’s $855 million budget increase proposal. The money is essential in order to keep tuition frozen and to keep branch campuses open, according to Rothman.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” 101.7 The Truth’s Dr. Ken Harris, a department chair at Concordia University, told WTMJ’s Wis. Morning News on Wednesday. “When you estimate there are 22 to 25% of students who aren’t going to be in school (in the future), where are these kids coming from? And why are we spending more money on less people? That’s an MPS syndrome.”
Budgeting for universities doesn’t make sense, Harris said.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” he explained. “Everybody has a financial aid package. Nobody ever pays full tuition. Ever.”
“Universities literally don’t know who is coming to school until students show up on the first day,” he said.
Wisconsin ranks 43 out of 50 states in funding its public four-year universities, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The budget increase would push the state’s funding to the middle of the pack nationally, according to Rothman.
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