The UW System Board of Regents unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that may tax"" all UW students come next semester if the 2007-'09 biennial budget is not passed by the Conference Committee soon.
The proposed surcharge would be in addition to the 5.5 percent tuition increase implemented this semester by the Regents to help cover the system's ongoing operating costs.
""It is late for us as a state agency that relies on state support,"" Regents President Mark Bradley said. ""I think as a Board at this time in October we need to begin to look very seriously at what we do for contingency planning if we don't have a budget.""
The Legislature is currently negotiating the official amount the state budget would give to the UW System.
The Regents have urged lawmakers to pass Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed version of the budget, which allots $180 million to the UW System.
The Senate's budget approves Doyle's $180 million, while the Assembly's version would only give $62 million total.
At a full board meeting Thursday in River Falls, the Regents discussed a set of ""unacceptable alternatives"" that the system would have to choose from if the shortfall in state funding continues.
Other unacceptable alternatives include ""shrinking enrollments, reducing class sections and thereby extending time to degree,"" according to the resolution.
""It's October 4 and we still don't have a budget,"" Regent President Mark Bradley said at the meeting. ""What we do have, however, is overwhelming public support for our budget.""
Bradley said he was impressed with the broad and consistent support from Wisconsin business leaders, students, faculty members, alumni and elected officials to fully fund system campuses.
""For the state to be successful, we need more college graduates in Wisconsin and we need the university to spin off the kind of research that results in 21st Century jobs - to do that, the state needs to make a modest lead investment in the University,"" UW System President Kevin Reilly said.
