The UW System Board of Regents learned last Thursday it may face hard limits on increases in state funding.
A day later, several regents proposed measures to give students from low-income families more financial aid-using additional state funding.
In response to the state's budget crunch, Assembly speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, outlined to the regents a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would limit increases in government spending based on an economic indicator such as inflation, which the state of Colorado uses.
Along with all other state budget items, it would affect public funding of the university. This is the \only fair way,"" said Steve Baas, Gard's spokesperson.
That means the regents will face tough decisions on financial aid, which some of them would like to increase to match tuition hikes dollar-for-dollar for students with family incomes under $30,000.
UW System President Katharine Lyall told regents her staff had projected what would have happened if the UW System had a Colorado-style plan since 1992. She said state funding for the university would have reached zero by 1997, effectively making the UW System a private institution, according to a meeting transcript.
Baas called that ""cooking up numbers"" to create panic and said the regents should not abuse the limited budget-setting autonomy the state Legislature gives them.
""If they manipulate [their autonomy] in order to manufacture a crisis, I think they would likely see a move in the Legislature to roll back some of that flexibility and to have more accountability to the representatives and the senators,"" Baas said.
Gard predicted the spending amendment would pass both houses of the Legislature later this spring, in one form or another.
Gov. Jim Doyle cannot veto constitutional amendments, but his spokesperson Dan Liestikow said he opposes limiting university funding in this way.
""The amendment as it's proposed would be devastating for education at all levels, and that's one of the reasons why Republicans are having trouble getting agreement even among themselves,"" Liestikow said.
Regents asked Gard to limit the effect of the measure on the university by, among other things,
ensuring it restricts increases to only the state-funded portion of university funding-27 percent of the UW System's total budget.
As for financial aid shortages, there may be another way. UW-Madison education Professor Alberto Cabrera said the financial aid debate frequently misses the point and ""the other form of financial aid""-work.
Government grants are not enough to cover living expenses beyond tuition, he said, leading students on financial aid to take out students loans and, worse, rack up credit card debt. University-supported work-study programs provide an alternative, which he said the university may have to consider to solve its funding dilemma.
