UW System Requests $108M Increase In State Spending

The University of Wisconsin System will ask for a $107.5 million increase in state funding over the next two years, a sizable jump from its last funding request in 2016.

The agency’s 2019-21 budget proposal includes a $82.5 million bump for performance-based funding and $25 million for new campus-based programs aimed at things like increasing on-time graduation rates and enrollment in certain majors. The System’s request in the last budget cycle was an increase of $42.5 million.

“We think this budget is reasonable, it’s responsive, and it fills an area that the state feels it needs badly,” said UW System President Ray Cross, referring specifically to initiatives aimed at increasing faculty in STEM and health-related programs.

The state Legislature approved new performance-based measures for UW System funding earlier this year, a move some lawmakers decried as creating “haves” and “have nots” within the System.

Cross said he is worried about some campuses facing harmful cuts if they don’t achieve benchmarks in things like student retention and graduation.

“I would be remiss if I wasn’t concerned about that,” he said. “We’ll be monitoring that very closely.”

He added, however, that campuses are armed with the knowledge of how they will be evaluated, so they can track their performance and make changes as necessary.

The proposed $6.3 billion budget — with funding streams from the state, federal government, grants and other avenues — also includes $25 million for what the System calls “capacity building initiatives,” which include plans submitted by UW System institutions to expand access to high-demand courses, create new internships and establish community partnerships.

Examples of that include a proposal at UW-Madison to increase faculty in computer science programs, new programming in areas like artificial intelligence at UW-Milwaukee, and a plan to to create a Bachelor of Science Nursing program based at UW-Barron County.

Gov. Scott Walker has said he intends to continue the tuition freeze on UW System campuses that has been in place since 2013. Cross said he believes tuition should rise as wages do.

“I think that’s reasonable,” he said.

Cross said the System’s requested increase for performance-based funding is intended to offset the lack of a tuition increase.

This year’s budget proposal comes nearly four years after Walker proposed a $300 million cut to the UW System in his 2015-17 budget. Lawmakers eventually approved a $250 million cut.

All state departments are required to submit their two-year budget requests to the state Department of Administration by mid-September. The governor will present his budget proposal in early 2019.