Wednesday, December 13, 2006
UW System roundup
It's been a bit crazy these last two days with tons of papers to write for my wonderful political science classes. I wrote about 50 pages in the last four days. And while that happened, it seems like madness continues within the UW System.
First, this awful idea of free tuition for students who stay 10 years in Wisconsin upon graudation.
As the theory goes, a captive work force of college graduates would attract new industry to Wisconsin, along with higher-paying jobs. Those workers, in turn, would pay more income taxes and sales taxes, providing the state with the millions of dollars needed to offer free tuition.
The state currently collects more than $800 million a year in tuition and fees from 160,000 students on UW campuses statewide.
Sen. Russ Decker (D-Schofield), who serves on the commission with O'Connell, said he favors improving higher education in Wisconsin. But he expressed concern about the potential cost of the free tuition idea.
"It's something you'd like to do," Decker said. "You also have to see if it's practical."
Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said the governor was willing to consider the proposal, which he compared with Doyle's own program guaranteeing college admission to any high school graduate who can maintain a "B" grade-point average.
"The governor's open to all kinds of ideas," Leistikow said.
So the theory is that having highly educated people will attract business in Wisconsin? Is this the policy alternative to cutting the taxes in this state?
Is tuition the real cause of brain drain? The real issue on why business does not come to Wisconsin is because of taxes. Wisconsin is a tax hell. Secondly, Wisconsin is a regulation hell. The simple fact is that taxes are the main reasons why business does business in a state. It doesn't matter if there are highly educated people in the state--those can be brought in. But if you lower taxes, for both businesses and indivuduals, you won't see the so-called "brain drain" in this state.
Do all youth need to go to college? This issue is whether our youth needs to be forced to go for some higher education, a bachelor's degree will eventually become the equivalent of a high school diploma--worthless. Everyone with half a brain will have one and that means to become a janitor, you'll need a bachelor's degree.
Who's going to pay for it? This is the bigger question. The taxpayers already subsidize tuition costs for instate tuition. In order for this program to work, the tuition rate will be artificially lowered so that it won't cost the state as much. This means not only the taxpayers get soaked on this free tuition program, they will also subsidize the true cost of education for instate students.
For example, tuition at a UW Comprehensive at UW-Green Bay is $6,000 per year. This is the advertised price for an in-state student. The full cost-of-education, as based off the out-of-state tuition cost, is $13,000. Taxpayers will subsidize the rest of the $6,500. As the cost-of-education rises, let's say to $15,000, UW System administrators will want to keep in-state tuition low, maybe increase it $6,500. The taxpayers will pick up the $8,500. And while this new program would only see a $500 increase over the last year, the taxpayers are paying $2000 more than they did a year before.
This plan is a raw deal for Wisconsin taxpayers. What ever happened to working to pay tuition bills, or saving for college? Seems like the kids and families are getting lazier.
Nass appointed Assembly chair of higher education committee.
This is great news for students of the UW, and taxpayers alike. Nass has long been a critic of the UW System, but with good reason. Nass had this to say after his appointment:
Nass noted that he has often been described as a “critic” of the UW System. He points out that his criticism has been about a lengthy list of scandals and administrative mistakes that have plagued the System over the last few years.
“I believe that the UW System is one of the most important engines to the state’s economy and its future. However, the UW System’s position in our society shouldn’t be used by administrators to whitewash serious mismanagement and wasteful spending,” Nass said.
And then Spencer Black responded to the news:
“During the last legislative session, Rep. Nass appeared to look for every possible opportunity to attack our University. His barrage of criticism went beyond vigorous legislative oversight of the University by the Legislature and crossed intothe realm of harmful disparagement. Our University is the key to our economic future. The University must compete in a very challenging environment to attract the best talent. The kind of fierce attacks frequently launched by Rep. Nass undercut the morale of University employees. Appointing Rep. Nass to head the Colleges and Universities Committee by the Republican leadership appears to signal that the Assembly Republicans seek an antagonistic relationship between the University and Legislature. That is unfortunate since it is important for the Legislature and the University to work together to offer opportunity to our young people and hope for our economy,” Black commented.
And then Nass responded in a second press release:
“Today, I pledge to Rep. Black that if he will end his war on taxpayers, I will hug a UW administrator before every committee meeting. If only Rep. Black spent a little less time cycling and lot more time working to restrict government spending by meeting his constitutional duty to conduct legislative oversight of state agencies,” Nass said.
Nass noted that it was humorous to hear Rep. Black pretend to be speaking on behalf ofuniversity employees. Black also accused Nass of hurting employee morale through his “disparagement” of the UW System.
“Considering that most of the UW scandals and mismanagement have become known throughwhistle-blowing rank-and-file employees, Rep. Black would be an honest broker if he stated that I was hurting the morale of UW administrators. And to that I would plead guilty as charged,” Nass said.
The political brinkmanship just goes to show how ineffective the UW System really is. Black is an apologist for the corrupt System. Nass is a critic with good intentions and wants to see major changes. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade, and that is exactly what Nass did with Kevin Barrett, backup appointments and the tuition hikes that were proposed by System. As a student of the UW, I look forward to Nass's views on higher education and the much needed reform to come out of his committee.
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