University of Wisconsin officials need to make a greater effort to ensure that Wisconsin students have access to public higher education.

And legislators, who have subjected the University of Wisconsin System to tougher budget cuts than many other state agencies, need to loosen up on the purse strings enough to allow for greater access to UW campuses.
Some legislators have been more open to budget cuts because of things they disagree with that have happened on the Madison campus. Yet their actions punish all campuses — including the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse — and they have the effect of making it a little more difficult for Wisconsin students to go to college.

The real point is that, in their anger at the UW System and Madison, legislators are punishing young people who need a degree, and whose education will help improve our state’s economic future.

What can be done?

At the local level, UW-L has asked the Board of Regents for approval to set its own tuition rates in an effort to allow for more students to attend. The target student population is about 10,000 during the next decade. That is about 1,000 more than now attend.

One faculty member expressed concerns in a letter to the editor recently that more students may not be conducive to good learning, but if there are enough faculty members and support to handle the increase, what would be the damage. There certainly is demand for what UW-L offers.

At the state level, a recent story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel told about Wisconsin residents losing out to out-of-state residents with lower qualifications — because the out-of-state students pay much more in tuition.

It’s true that out-of-state students allow for greater diversity on campus, which can mean a richer college experience for all. But we need to be fair, and we need to make sure that state residents have priority access to higher education.

That’s where the Legislature can and should help. Legislators need to rethink their approach to the UW System and state to restore some of the funding that has been lost. They need to think about the need to educate and then keep those students in Wisconsin, where they can contribute to the economy.

Most of all, they need to think of higher education as an investment in our state’s future.

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