State Will Fund UW Tuition Cut Says Gov. Walker

Governor Scott Walker wants to lower tuition for all Wisconsin undergraduates in the UW System.

Walker made the announcement during Tuesday's State of the State address.

Wednesday, he clarified the UW System won't take a financial hit, "Whatever amount reduction there is equivalent to the tuition cut we will back fill it. So if it's blank number million dollars less from what they are currently at that they lose out intuition by seeing it reduced, we will fill that back in so they will be made whole."

Tuesday, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank expressed concern over Walker's tuition proposal. In a statement posted to Twitter, Blank said, “Like Governor Walker, our goal is to make UW-Madison affordable and accessible to all Wisconsin students. It is our hope that the governor and legislature will not only fully fund the proposed tuition reduction, but also provide additional investment in the UW System in line with the modes request made by the Board of Regents, which is critical if we are to continue providing an outstanding educational experience to our students."

Walker also said he plans to add more money to the UW System in the state's next budget, and will tie to performance. Walker said, "...looking at how many students graduate, do they graduate on time, did they get employment, are they hired within Wisconsin? All those things will kind of be the factors we will look at in performance measures. Similar to what we have done in the past with the Wisconsin technical college system."

Walker said he will lay out more details during his budget address.

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