No Joke: Gov. Walker’s 2015 Budget Plan for Higher Education So Bad University of Wisconsin Forced to Raise Tuition Before it Passes

MADISON, Wis. — Budget cuts proposed by Gov. Scott Walker in his 2015 state budget, on top of the record cuts to public education in Wisconsin he and the Republican controlled legislature already enacted, today resulted in approval of large tuition hikes on students at today’s meeting of the University of Wisconsin (UW) System Board of Regents.

These latest moves will only add to the $1.3 trillion student loan debt crisis and could keep Wisconsin students from being able to attend the UW school of their choice as universities seek to make up for budget cuts by filling available slots with out of state students paying higher tuition.

The following are the comments of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross on the actions of the full University of Wisconsin Board of Regents:

“Today’s vote by the Board of Regents is a grim preview of what’s to come under Gov. Walker’s 2015 budget.

“In the short term, Wisconsin students are going to find themselves shut out of the UW school of their choice as universities are forced to make up for budget cuts by filling available slots with an increasing percentage of higher paying out-of-state students.

“And Wisconsin students who want to continue their education in graduate programs are going to pay more.

“Cuts to public support for universities, no increase in financial aid for eligible students and skyrocketing tuition is the formula that’s left forty million Americans who worked hard and took on the personal responsibility of paying for their education with $1.3 trillion in student loan debt. And Gov. Walker’s 2015 higher education budget goes further down this disastrous path.

“Higher tuition and more debt are the price Wisconsin students are being forced to pay for Gov. Walker’s contempt for higher education.”