MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Gov. Scott Walker promised in his State of the State address to cut tuition for all in-state University of Wisconsin undergraduates, even after the head of the multi-campus system called for him to end a four-year freeze.
Walker’s surprise, new promise to cut tuition comes it has been frozen the past four years as a way to keep higher education affordable. The UW Board of Regents approved a plan in December to keep tuition flat next year, but allow it to raise no higher than the rate of inflation the following year.
UW officials and Republican legislative leaders generally praised Walker’s proposal, but were looking for more specifics.
“I’m not against it, we just have to look at it along with all our other priorities,” said Republican Rep. John Nygren, co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee.
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was more critical, saying he didn’t want to “head down the Bernie Sanders route” of free college tuition.
“I think people should pay for the value that the university is,” Vos said. “Of course I’ll be open to listening for Governor Walker’s perspective.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank said she hoped Walker and the Legislature would fully fund the tuition cut and increase funding for the university in line with the $42 million additional that was requested. She called that additional funding “critical if we are to continue providing an outstanding educational experience to our students.”
Walker will fully pay for it with general state aid and also increase UW funding, Nygren said. Nygren said Walker’s office didn’t tell him how much the cut would be or how much they planned to increase UW funding.
Walker’s spokesman Tom Evenson said the cut would be paid for in the budget.
“Governor Walker is committed to lowering the cost of college for students at our UW campuses,” Evenson said. “This isn’t just talk. The governor plans to actually lower the cost of college by cutting tuition across the UW System.”
If the cut is paid for, “then that’s something we’d be very open to,” said Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca.
UW System President Ray Cross released a statement applauding Walker for trying to keep college affordable, but he did not comment specifically on the tuition cut plan.
Democratic Sen. Lena Taylor, of Milwaukee, is also on the budget-writing committee. She didn’t know what to make of Walker’s proposal.
“It’s all talk without details or specifics,” she said.
Walker put the impact of the tuition freeze in personal terms, noting in his State of the State speech that his son, Alex, is a student at UW-Madison.
“We appreciate the freeze just as other families do all across the state,” Walker said.
The idea won praise from state Sen. Steve Nass, the vice chairman of the Senate Universities and Technical Colleges Committee. Nass is a longtime critic of the university and supporter of the tuition freeze.
“Governor Scott Walker is leading by example in cutting UW System tuition to benefit the middle class families of Wisconsin,” Nass said in a statement. “Where the UW System has failed families in controlling costs, the governor and legislative Republicans have already delivered a historic tuition freeze and now we are going to cut tuition.”
Walker had already promised to increase funding for the UW System after cutting it by $250 million in his last budget. Walker hasn’t said how much he planned to increase it, but he has said it would be tied to UW meeting certain undetermined performance measures.
The university is seeking $42.5 million more over the next two years.
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Associated Press writers Todd Richmond and Cara Lombardo contributed to this story.
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