UW System asking for extra $42.5 million and ending tuition freeze

Senator calls UW admin out of touch and overpaid

After taking a large cut in the current state budget, the University of Wisconsin System hopes to get increased funding in the next budget plan.

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross said the Board of Regents will vote on a budget request next week, asking to end the tuition freeze, along with $42.5 million in new spending.

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow is also hopeful that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will lift the freeze that’s been in effect since 2013. 

Gow would like to see Walker let the UW Regents go back to deciding what the tuition rates should be.

Walker, however, says continuing the freeze will make college more affordable and Wisconsin Rep. Senator Steve Nass blasted university administrators that want tuition increases. He says they’re “out of touch” and overpaid.

“Extending the UW System tuition freeze is a clear choice for legislators,” Nass said in a statement. “You can stand with Wisconsin’s middle class families or you can bow to the desires of out-of-touch university administrators earning six-digit salaries.

Nass also pointed out, before the tutition freeze, the previous 10 years saw UW System officials increase tuition 118 percent, while at the same time keeping the public and the Legislature in the dark about the accrual of a nearly $1 billion reserve.