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Don’t you think parents of college-age children would want to know if they could get reduced tuition at six other Midwest states?
They can. University of Wisconsin System officials entered into a reciprocity agree ment called the Miwest Student Exchange Program that would allow discounts of thousands of dollars for Wisconsin students to go to schools in North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri and Michigan.
But Wisconsin students and parents didn’t know they qualified for these bargains — because UW officials never advertised the program.
What sense does that make? Under the reciprocity agreement, students from those states can attend nine UW campuses and some technical colleges at tuition rates about halfway between resident and nonresident tuition.
And Wisconsin students can attend schools in all those states for similar rates. Or at least they might have, had UW officials let Wisconsin students and parents know about these bargains.
Wisconsin already has a reciprocity agreement with Minnesota that allows students to attend colleges in the other state at their own in-state tuition rate. Under the new agreement, a small number of Minnesota schools that were not part of the Minnesota-Wisconsin reciprocity agreement would allow tuition discounts for Wisconsin students.
The UW System was supposed to send brochures to high school guidance counselors so they could let students know about the new discount rates for out-of-state schools. But some schools told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they had never been told about the program and never saw any brochures.
Asked why the state didn’t advertise the new program, the official in charge said he was worried that the discount tuition would create a “brain drain” with many Wisconsin students going elsewhere.
He should have had more faith in his own campuses. Wisconsin campuses are up to the challenge of competition. And not telling Wisconsin residents about reduced tuition rates elsewhere is no way to compete.
The La Crosse Tribune Editorial Board is composed of Publisher Russell Cunningham, Editor John Smalley, Opinion Page Editor Richard Mial, City Editor Scott Rada, Assistant City Editor Betsy Bloom and community member Richard Kyte.
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