With the UW System facing over $300 million in budget cuts from the state, the Board of Regents convened Thursday to discuss how institutions throughout the state should be structured and more efficiently use their resources.
UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mike Lovell said the Wisconsin community needs to consider if it is willing to forfeit the quality of higher education institutions for a lower price.
"There always comes a point where if [funding] is low enough, you can't become any more efficient; you're going to offer less quality. I think we're approaching that point now," Lovell said. "On my campus, I'm not sure what else I can do to make sure the quality isn't degraded."
Regent David Walsh asked if there would come a point where UW institutions would have to limit enrollment to preserve educational quality.
"You can't keep being cut," Walsh said. "At some point, you make a decision that the quality of the education isn't fair to students."
UW System President Kevin Reilly said while the question is at the forefront of many conversations, he does not know the answer.
Lovell said faculty and staff compensation is perhaps what suffers most from budget cuts. While they are asked to increase enrollment in their courses because of other courses being cut, many of them have not received raises in years.
He said in the past year, 41 of UWM's top faculty members have left the university for better paying jobs.
"They have reached a point where they say ‘enough is enough, I'm under-compensated,'" Lovell said.
Regent José Vásquez said the Regents need to ensure the education of diverse students and students with disabilities are still being met in light of attempts to help institutions save money.
Also at the meeting, Regents discussed adding advisory boards to campuses and regions to facilitate communication between UW institutions, regents and the state.
The boards would serve "advisory" roles and would not be given tuition-setting responsibilities.
"We as a board are not equipped to promote the goals of individual campuses in a way that they should be promoted," Regent Michael Falbo said. "That would be the role that these groups would play."
