Governor’s Plan Cuts UW Funding, Shrinks Cash Reserves

The Walker administration has laid out a plan that would reduce the University of Wisconsin’s (UW’s) reserves by $136 million, partly through a $94 million dollar cut in state funding.

The $94 million reduction in what the governor was going to spend on the UW would come from a combination of a lapse in state funding and a requirement that the UW System find a way to pay for almost $30 million dollars in economic development programs itself. On top of that, the budget would freeze tuition at the UW: a move that the Walker Administration says would reduce the UW’s reserves by another $42 million.

Republican Assembly Joint Finance Committee Co-Chair John Nygren says other lawmakers may want more changes, but he thinks this is fair.

“For others, it’s possible. I mean, I’ve heard others that want more, but I think this is a pretty good alternative.”

The Walker administration developed the new budget after it was revealed that the UW System had hundreds of millions in reserves, more than $400 million of which came from tuition. The administration’s memo says these change would still leave the UW with reserves of 22 percent. The UW issued a statement calling Walker’s changes a “manageable solution to a very difficult situation.”