Following recent studies showing fewer low-income students have access to UW System schools, the UW System Board of Regents discussed budget plans Friday that may increase financial aid on a system-wide level.
Freda Harris, UW System associate vice president for budget and planning, suggested that state funding should contribute more to financial aid and regents should concentrate on the system's ability to match percentage increases between tuition and aid, according to a meeting transcript.
But Harris noted even increasing financial aid by the same percentage as tuition hikes is not enough to keep the actual dollar gap between these figures from widening.
To curb this problem, Harris proposed a \dollar match"" program for low income students by which the system would fund the total difference in tuition during years when the system sees rises, thus allowing such students to pay a fixed amount throughout their college careers.
""The dollar match program is a stop-gap measure,"" Harris said. ""The process to fill the hole created by using auxiliary funds requires a step-by-step process, rather than a leap.""
However, Harris said the plan would cost $72 million in state funds and would require tuition increases similar to those in recent years.
Including students whose family income hovers just above $30,000 in the program would cost another $12 million, Harris said. But if regents deem this cohort ineligible, they will be hit hardest by the plan.
Additionally, implementing a ""dollar match"" program may mean budget cuts in other areas of the system. Regents have until September to decide whether such a plan will factor into the 2005-07 biennium budget.
Regents also voted to recommend that the state add another student regent to the board. According to United Council President Jeff Pertl, Senate and Assembly education committees and Gov. Jim Doyle support the measure. Currently, only one of the 17 board members is a UW System student.
Though some questioned whether adding a student would significantly help the board, others said they see a need for a nontraditional student's perspective among the regents.
According to the bill, the nontraditional student must be an undergraduate who is at least 24 years old.
Regents also hired former Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Albany Carlos Santiago as chancellor of UW-Milwaukee. He will begin July 15 with an annual salary of $250,000, approximately $30,000 more than his predecessor Nancy Zimpher.
