Martin: UW–Madison equipped to create new revenue sources

UW–Madison is equipped to rely less on tuition increases than other UW institutions because the university has the potential to create new sources of revenue, Chancellor Biddy Martin told the Board of Regents on March 10.

It was the latest discussion among UW System chancellors and regents about the proposal, introduced March 1 as part of Gov. Scott Walker’s two-year budget, to create a public authority to govern UW–Madison.

At the March 10 meeting, the Board of Regents voted to ask Walker to grant all system institutions the flexibility that’s been proposed for UW–Madison. UW System said its “Wisconsin Idea Partnership” would preserve the core features of the New Badger Partnership as proposed in the budget, but would extend them to all institutions in a unified system.

Martin said restructuring UW–Madison as a public authority would give the university a chance to gain the flexibilities it needs to deal with looming budget cuts.

Though she supports the idea of all system institutions having the same flexibility, Martin has said she fears backing a proposal to make that happen would keep UW–Madison from being able to manage its own revenue in the two-year budget cycle that will start in July.

Walker’s budget proposal also included a $125 million cut for UW–Madison. University officials have said they are working to determine the best way to manage the cuts, but said the approach will be balanced between finding efficiencies, making cuts and increasing tuition.

“These are difficult and complicated times,” Martin told the Faculty Senate on March 7. “There is not a road map for weaving our way through them.”

Students, faculty and staff have become engaged in the discussion about the idea, with hundreds participating in forums and Web chats with university officials to learn more about the New Badger Partnership and how it will change UW Madison.

Martin told a crowd of nearly 300 at Grainger Hall on March 8 that the proposed changes offer the university a chance to better control its policies, costs and revenue while maintaining the quality of the preeminent public research university that Wisconsin has built.

“I think it’s our responsibility to preserve the strength of this university, which has served the state of Wisconsin for over 150 years. That’s what I’m about,” Martin said. “Do we simply want to sit here every biennium and say, ‘Well, we got another cut. What are we going to cut? Who are we going to cut? How are we going to handle it?’ I don’t want to be the chancellor who simply did that over and over again. I want to try something that has the potential to preserve the quality of this university for the citizens of this state and for the wider world.”

Students have raised concerns and questions about how much tuition is expected to increase in the next two years.

It’s too soon to know how tuition will change, but Martin told the campus community in a March 9 message that public authority status would give UW–Madison the opportunity to consider what mix of financial aid and tuition would work best for the university.

Increasing financial aid has been a high priority for Martin since she arrived at UW–Madison, and the New Badger Partnership would allow the university more flexibility to create further financial aid resources.

The public authority proposal will also be the subject of hearings on the state budget that are being planned around the state by the Legislature.

Answers to questions asked in the Web chats have been assembled in an online FAQ. The website also includes updates on the New Badger Partnership and budget, audio of the forums and other resources.

A discussion of the New Badger Partnership will be hosted by several UW–Madison deans at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, March 28, in Room 2002 of Rennebohm Hall.