University of Wisconsin regents, deans and financial aid officers are relieved the Legislature finalized a state budget Tuesday, but also say its waiting process caused months of stress and falls millions of dollars short of the requested funding.
The Legislature passed the $57.2 billion state budget Tuesday evening, which allots $159 million to the UW System. The amount, which Gov. Jim Doyle is set to sign in coming days, allows nearly $25 million less than the $185 million the system and Doyle originally proposed.
The immediate effects of the budget are positive, according to UW-Madison Director of Financial Aid Susan Fischer.
The $32 million the budget gives to higher education financial aid will relieve college students who were approved for Wisconsin Higher Education Grants, but were still awaiting notice due to the budget impasse.
Fischer said about 175 UW-Madison students accepted for WHEGs will likely receive funding, though each case will be carefully examined.
It's not like just pressing a button. Somebody has to go in and look at each individual student's aid package and see what we can adjust,"" Fischer said of the process, to be completed within coming weeks.
Like Fischer, most administrators are simply thankful an amount is finalized.
""It's a great sense of relief because we now know what the budget is,"" said UW-Madison College of Letters & Science Dean Gary Sandefur.
In the 115 days the budget went unpassed, deans of colleges devised plans if the Assembly's original $70 million budget, or no budget at all, were to pass.
""It would have been a really devastating impact on the university,"" Sandefur said of the plans, which would have made significant class cuts next semester. ""The time that it took to pass the budget was very stressful for the faculty and staff.""
With a budget in place, Sandefur said deans could proceed and plan for the next two years.
The UW System, which talked of having to institute an $800 tuition surcharge or closing facilities, also saw the budget as a mark to move forward.
""I think people will be pleased to get this budget behind us,"" said UW System spokesperson David Giroux. ""We've got our work cut out for us internally - to shore up morale, to allow people to feel a little happy about the future.""
However, Giroux said the $159 million budget has holes and imperfections that will need to be worked out in the next few years.
Giroux said the UW System will not have to cut from its base budget, but must absorb a $25 million lapse that calls for careful savings.
""That will require that we tighten our belts,"" Giroux said of the lapse. ""That will be a challenge for us, but I think there is more good news than there is bad news.""
Board of Regents Vice President Charles Pruitt said funding ripple effects are too early to assess and conversations would soon follow with the chancellors of each UW campus.
