Advertisement
Here in Wisconsin, the state created a program known as the Wisconsin GI Bill to help veterans attend college. The bill was signed into law in 2005 and beginning this fall offered 100 percent tuition remission to Wisconsin veterans.
Last week the committee I chair, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Higher Education, held a public hearing to examine how the program was working.
What committee members and the public learned was that we, as a state, have not kept our promise to adequately fund the program.
Today, the benefits of the federal GI bill have eroded. Many rules limit benefits, and even those who have served many years and now return as full-time students are not able to come close to expenses, let alone rapidly rising tuition. Estimates are the GI Bill pays only 13 percent of costs at more expensive schools.
Wisconsin’s way of saying “thank you” to our veterans is the Wisconsin GI Bill. The program pays 100 percent of tuition for up to eight semesters or 128 credits and can be used at any University of Wisconsin or Technical College campus.
The program has seen a great increase in interest since its inception. Currently, there are more than 9,400 veterans and 1,300 dependents certified. Just last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs certified 169 applicants.
Payment for the tuition program was part of the recently passed state budget. But representatives from the university system testified at the hearing that the money passed in the state budget was well short of the estimated $40.6 million needed.
The university estimates that an additional $30 million is needed to fully fund the program for the next two years.
University folks testified that no one anticipated how much the program was going to cost, and the strong feeling among the university system was that the cost should be shared among all campuses.
A representative from the technical college system explained that, because of the unique funding of the technical colleges, underfunding the program requires that costs be shifted to other students or property taxpayers.
He provided disturbing information about the loss of state funds in the technical college system over the past several years.
An articulate disabled veteran and full-time technical college student summed up the problem well: “Most students don’t know what is going on now. Costs are getting shifted around. This is not a fair thing to do. If government is saying your tuition is free — it should be. It should not be other students who are paying for it.”
Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, Wis., is a state senator. Contact her at State Capitol, P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882 or sen.vinehout @legis.wisconsin.gov; call Black River Falls at (715) 284-173 or Madison at 1-877-763-6636.
