Budget panel to consider UW tuition cut, performance funding
(AP) — University of Wisconsin System students would save hundreds of dollars on tuition and campuses would have to compete for additional state dollars under provisions in Gov. Scott Walker's budget up for votes Tuesday in the Legislature's powerful finance committee.
Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga, a finance committee member from Brookfield, has proposed allowing the system, individual campuses or even individual programs to raise tuition according to inflation or the latest increase in the state's median household income, whichever is less.
The budget creates a lengthy list of performance standards for UW institutions, including affordability, student work readiness, student success in the workforce, campus efficiency and community service.
Twenty-six states have implemented similar performance-based funding for public four-year schools, according to a 2015 report from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Other budget proposals up for votes Tuesday included increasing grants for UW System students, private college students and technical college students by $5.6 million and opening up a program that grants free tuition at UW System and technical colleges to children and spouses of dead veterans anywhere in the country.