UW president: University needs $914M more next year

(The Center Square) – The president of the University of Wisconsin wants nearly a $1 billion more from lawmakers in the next state budget.

UW president Jay Rothman said he needs $914 million in order to avoid another tuition increase.

“We’re falling behind after years of neglect, and this budget seeks to address that trend,” Rothman said in a statement.

Rothman said the University of Wisconsin ranks 43rd in terms of the percent of state dollars it receives. He said it will take $457 million in each year of Wisconsin’s two-year state budget to bring the UW into line with other Big Ten schools.

“It’s time Wisconsin escapes the bottom 10 in public funding and gets up to the middle,” Rothman said. “This budget request will spur innovation in research and teaching, make a degree more affordable for our students most in need, develop talent by focusing on student success, preserve accessibility and ensure quality.”

He said for the UW to stay competitive, the school needs more money.

“We won’t win the war for talent if we don’t get up to the middle,” Rothman added.

The University of Wisconsin is getting $1.3 billion in the current state budget, and the university recently raised tuition.

Rothman said an extra $900 million would also ensure that no more UW branch campuses would close for the next two years.

Rothman has closed, or announced plans to close, five branch campuses. UW-Platteville Richland, UW-Milwaukee at Washington County, UW-Oshkosh Fond du Lac and UW-Green Bay Marinette all closed this past school year. UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha will close at the end of the next school year.

Republican lawmakers earlier this month pressed Rothman as to why he needs more money when there are fewer students and fewer campuses.

“I'm not sure how I can come back to my constituents and the taxpayer and say the University of Wisconsin needs to continue to operate at the same spending level when they have less people to serve,” Rep Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, said at the time. “People are saying ‘what do they want money for if they have less people? What do they need money for?’”

Wisconsin lawmakers will begin work on the next state budget when they return to the Capitol in January.