The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse came up with a creative idea to generate more revenue, hire more faculty members and enroll more students — all without additional taxpayer funding.

But the Democratic-controlled state Senate reduced the plan to a shadow of its original self. The plan faces even tougher sledding in the Assembly, but we urge legislators to carefully consider the arguments — and to restore the plan to its original form.
UW-L has faced cuts in state funding during the past several years, as has the UW System as a whole. But UW-L has very high standards and does a great job retaining freshman students into their sophomore year. Many more students want to attend UW-L than are able to because of the limitations.

University officials developed a plan to allow this campus to increase tuition over three years — and to use the money to hire additional faculty members and enroll an additional 1,000 students.

In addition, the university would increase financial aid available for low-income and minority students.

The proposal has been derisively referred to as a “diversity tax.” But that misses the point of what officials were trying to achieve. Diversity certainly was a part of the plan — UW-L’s enrollment, after all, should reflect the population of Wisconsin.

But diversity was by no means the whole point. What UW-L officials had sought to do was to make up for a decline in state taxpayer funding with tuition increases — and then use the money to serve more students.

The original Growth and Access plan would have raised an estimated $15 million over six years and allowed for hiring 105 new faculty and staff members.

At present, UW-L has a higher proportion of students to faculty members than other campuses, according to Chancellor Joe Gow. Even without growth and access, hiring more faculty and staff would improve education at UW-L.

But Growth and Access would improve education and allow access for more students who want to get in but are not able to because of limitations of educational resources.

Members of the state Senate cut the plan to allow for only $901,400 during the next two-year budget period, rather than the $4.3 million the plan would have raised during the same period.

Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, who supports the plan, said, “My concern with what happened in the Senate is that UW-L is now relying on taxpayers to fund growth and access, and there’s no guarantee in future budgets that the support will be there.”

She’s right. UW-L has academic standards second only to the Madison flagship campus. It deserves more resources, and students who want to get in deserve a better chance to do so.

Assembly members should restore the cuts made by the Senate and allow this innovative program to become a reality.

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