The wardrobe of a typical UW-Madison student on game day does not usually include the maroon and gold of the Minnesota Gophers. Unless of course the student happens to be one of the nearly 3,000 Minnesotans attending UW-Madison thanks to the tuition reciprocity agreement between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
'[Minnesota students] pay the same as they would to attend a university in their home state,' said Karen Hanson, assistant registrar in Enrollment Services and a team of employees at Tuition Assessment Office of the Registrar.
But the reciprocity agreement between the states is not etched in stone. According to a statement by Research and Policy Analyst Jack Rayburn, the higher education boards of both Minnesota and Wisconsin are planning to revisit this issue sometime in the 2006-'07 academic year and there are some in Minnesota who would like to see the reciprocity agreement terminated.
In 2001, Minnesota state Rep. Joe Opatz, D-St. Cloud, introduced the idea of ending Minnesota's practice of subsidizing tuition for students that enroll at schools in other states. The call to end the agreement stems from the fact that Wisconsin students often pay less to attend Minnesota schools than Minnesota residents who attend Wisconsin schools. This uneven reciprocity leaves Minnesota paying the difference.
'Why are we writing a check for $10.5 million, on top of sending our children elsewhere'? Opatz said. In addition, Opatz, like other Minnesotans, was concerned about the deal pulling its college-educated demographic out of the state.
'The reciprocity agreement is complicated, based on calculations of credits taken, instructional costs, tuition rates, and more. The deal is designed to cover the full cost of the education, an amount tuition alone in either state doesn't cover,' the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The report added that each state cuts a check to the other to make up the gap created by tuition differences, but the money goes into the state's general fund, not the university systems. This proves to be a key point of controversy.
While the economic merits of the program are debatable the popularity of the program is not. In 2004, 11,409 Wisconsin residents attended schools in Minnesota, while 13,139 Minnesotans attended Wisconsin institutions, including the 2,874 of them who attended UW-Madison.
UW-Madison sophomore Scotty Field is a Minnesota resident who started attending UW-Madison in the fall of 2004. He is the kind of fan who wore his Wisconsin jersey Friday night and his Minnesota jersey Saturday, during last weekend's games. Tuition reciprocity played a roll in his college decision.
'Money is the factor,' Field said. 'My parents are paying for college and they didn't want to pay a whole crap-load of money.'
Students from Minnesota save a considerable amount of money compared to other non-resident students. The UW-Madison Undergraduate Admissions website estimates that the cost of attendance for Minnesota residents will be $17,400 for the 2005-06 academic year. This is $13,330 less than what other nonresident students are estimated to pay.
The reduced cost makes UW-Madison appealing. UW-Madison sophomore Elaine Pirie, a Minnesota resident, took the offer.
'Madison certainly moved higher up on my list because I could pay in-state tuition,' Pirie said. 'I spent my whole life in Minnesota, it was time not to live there.'
Yet even with debate over the disparities in price and the animosity between the state's respective sports teams, many Wisconsin students can put the controversy aside and are happy that their Minnesotan friends are saving money.
'College is expensive enough even without paying for out-of-state tuition,' UW-Madison junior and Wisconsinite Brian Boothby said. 'It's nice that college kids get a break.'
Boothby and Field both hold tickets on the ice at the Kohl Center. Boothby admits that Minnesotans have school spirit, but Field says there are hardships of being a fan of both states.
'I take some flak, but I give some back, so it goes both ways,' Field said. 'No matter what jersey Field wears to the games, he would not be sitting with his Wisconsin friends if it were not for reciprocity.
