According to the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board, grants are ""‘gift' aid; they do not have to be repaid."" But if state Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz, R-Menomonee Falls, has her way, grant-funded students will repay each dollar per course in which they earn sub-‘C' grades.
As presently written, Jeskewitz's bill would impose retroactive academic standards on students who receive grants—students with critical financial need. The proposed law ignores and may exacerbate financial conditions that already compromise academic performance. In the long run, the bill may worsen the credit history of already disadvantaged students.
If Jeskewitz seeks to make state-funded students accountable to taxpayers, it makes more sense to set academic performance as a condition to receiving grants.
If modeled after the federal government's grant standards, undergraduate students would retain aid eligibility providing they demonstrate progress toward graduation, or ""Satisfactory Academic Progress."" In comparison to Jeskewitz's course-by-course standard, SAP measures several factors from an overall perspective.
If passed by the state Legislature, Jeskewitz's bill would impose stricter academic standards on students receiving state grants than those who receive federal grants—an obviously unfair situation.
Jeskewitz's proposed bill would also require Wisconsin's HEAB to manage two sets of standards and create a completely new billing department to handle the grant debts of students who fail to meet the ‘C' standard. The bureaucracy required to handle the bill's consequences alone is a testament against adopting it.
Moreover, the proposed bill includes only University of Wisconsin System schools. What about Wisconsin students who receive grants from technical and tribal colleges, independent colleges and universities, and proprietary institutions?
The Wisconsin Tuition and Minority Undergraduate Retention grants are not available to UW System students. By exempting certain students and grants from the ‘C' standard, the bill demands unfair academic standards of UW System students.
Ultimately, Jeskewitz's proposal fails to make students accountable to taxpayers and requires major revisions before it hits the Legislature. First, it must align state with federal grant standards. Second, the bill must become applicable to all Wisconsin students receiving aid. Finally, it must honor the promise that grants are ""‘gift' aid; they do not have to be repaid.""
