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That means the bill effectively is dead, said state Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse.
The additional aid was intended for about 750 incoming UW-L students to offset a tuition increase under the UW-L plan.
The state Senate, on a party-line vote, turned down Sen. Dan Kapanke’s attempt to bring the bill to a floor vote Wednesday.
While the Assembly passed a version of the bill Tuesday, the Senate version was hung up in the Joint Finance Committee. Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, has insisted the committee needs to review the bill.
The bill would have allowed UW-L to use all of the $664,000 it was allocated in the state budget, rather than the $225,400 earmarked, for financial aid.
“We are very disappointed that the Senate chose not to approve our simple request to allocate more of our own money to financial aid for hundreds of students from around the state of Wisconsin,” said UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow.
Gow added he was thankful for local legislators’ support in advancing the bill as far as they could.
A slim chance remains the bill could pass if attached to a budget repair bill in upcoming weeks, Shilling said.
Kapanke, R-La Crosse, said he is not going to give up on that possibility.
“We are going to keep trying to make it happen if we can,” he said. “It is a long shot, but it is a shot we are going to take.”
The bill could be reintroduced next session, but that would not be in time to help incoming UW-L students this fall, said Kapanke.
“It is disappointing, because it doesn’t cost any more money,” Shilling said. “We are trying to get more financial aid to students and their families coming to La Crosse, and we have been prevented from doing that.”
