Republican lawmakers seek path to ending UW tuition freeze by proposing inflationary increases

MADISON - Increases in how much students pay to attend University of Wisconsin campuses would be tied to the rate of inflation under a new bill that seeks to lay the groundwork for ending a near decade-long tuition freeze. 

But the bill also seeks to keep tuition unchanged for each student over four years in college by locking in the rate they pay as a freshman.

The bill is being written by Republican lawmakers — including the chairman of the state Assembly's higher education committee — and aims to reverse a policy first put in place by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker but is also backed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

“The tuition freeze is very popular with the public. But legislators also have to take a long-term view of keeping our university strong, vital and a national leader," said bill author Rep. Dave Murphy of Greenville.

Tuition on UW campuses has been frozen for six years and will go unchanged until 2021 — a move UW officials have said could lead to the closure of campuses. 

The legislation from Murphy and Sen. Andre Jacque of De Pere would take effect after that and only if lawmakers decide to end the freeze. 

Democratic lawmakers are skeptical.

"While freezing tuition is a noble goal, the reality is if you are not going to fund it, it just reduces the value," Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh said about Republicans' approach to setting funding levels for the UW System.

Hintz said because the proposal locks in students' tuition rate for four years, it "seems to be sort of a meek attempt given that it is only going to cover a quarter of the cost of inflation.”

”It seems sort of a shell game and perhaps a way to cover up for the fact that they continue to de-invest in the economic engine of our state," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse, who also represents a major UW campus, is concerned the bill doesn't address how tuition will be determined for students who spend a year to study abroad or transfer to another UW campus. 

“Not only could this bill have unintended consequences, but it does nothing to address the $1 billion in state funding that was cut from our college campuses under Republican control," Shilling said.

The proposal comes after a state budget battle during which University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross described lawmakers' level of funding for UW programs and staff as akin to "being kicked in the shins."

Cross told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2018 he wanted to see tuition go up at the rate of inflation, saying without a tuition increase, "we start to put quality in jeopardy."

"I don't want to close any of these campuses," Cross said at the time. "I want to explore every alternative I can."

Cross did not say whether he supported locking in the same tuition rate for students across four years of college, which the new bill proposes to do.

UW System spokesman Mark Pitsch said in a statement Wednesday officials there have talked to Murphy about his proposal but did not say whether UW officials support it.

The tuition freeze is popular among families and students and was put in place by Walker and Republican lawmakers in 2013 after lawmakers discovered UW had $1 billion in cash reserves but was also raising tuition by 5% annually.

The UW System was still building cash balances in thousands of fund accounts as of 2018 and carrying them from year to year, but it's also spending down money. 

“I think there are a fair amount of legislators who believe that reasonable tuition increases are OK," Murphy said. "They certainly don’t want them to get out of hand or get to a place where we were 10 years ago.” 

The bill also arrives as a new organization led by notable UW-Madison alumni, including billionaires John and Tashia Morgridge and former Milwaukee Brewers owner Allan "Bud" Selig seeks to end the tuition freeze.

But it's unclear if it has support among legislative leadership and Evers, who signed a state budget that extends the freeze another two years and campaigned on keeping tuition the same.

Aides to Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald did not immediately respond to questions about whether they supported ending the freeze. 

Mike Browne, deputy director of liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, said the GOP proposal is "ludicrous" given the rejection of Evers' proposal to provide student loan borrowers relief and add funding for financial aid programs. 

"We're facing a $1.5 trillion student debt crisis and Wisconsin is in the top 10 in the nation for percentage of college graduates with student debt, and all the Republicans are offering is a recipe to make it worse," Browne said.

The proposal from Murphy and Jacque allows the UW Board of Regents to increase tuition each year at the same rate as increases in the consumer price index. Tuition rate increases would only be applied to incoming classes under the bill — giving students a certainty of how much a four-year education would cost before deciding to attend the UW campus. 

But if a student does not graduate in four years, tuition would increase in that student's fifth year. 

Murphy said the proposal aims to give the UW Board of Regents back their power to set tuition rates.

“I really don’t want to be in the tuition setting business. We have a Board of Regents and that’s their job," he said. "I’d like to hand that back to them so they can do it but be very vigilant about what they are doing and be vigilant about the university’s finances so we know what’s going on.”

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.