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UW-L out-performs many other campuses — in graduation rates and retention of freshmen — yet it has a very high 24-to-1 ratio of faculty members to students. Other campuses are given greater financial resources by the regents and system administration.
Former Chancellor Doug Hastad, now president of Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis., proposed allowing UW-L to charge more in tuition, and use the money to hire more faculty and staff, and admit more students.
Chancellor Joe Gow, who succeeded Hastad, arrived here in time to champion that plan, which was approved by the Board of Regents and by Gov. Jim Doyle, but rejected by the Legislature.
Democrats opposed the tuition increase, and Republicans opposed the tuition increase and objected to a financial aid proposal that would have been funded by the tuition hike.
UW-L has a new proposal, which calls for a tuition surcharge for new students, to be used to hire 75 new faculty members during the next five years, and increase the student body by 500 in the same period.
There is still a needs-based financial aid component to the new plan, but it would be funded through state dollars and not student tuition money.
UW-L officials plan to present the new plan to the Board of Regents at its December meeting. Gow has been meeting with UW System officials, students, legislators and others.
This plan is about increasing the quality of the education that students receive by lowering the 24-to-1 faculty-student ratio, as well as increasing enrollment at a campus where one-third of the applicants are turned away.
It makes sense, and deserves support at the state level.
