Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cut the University of Wisconsin System by $300 million over two years would likely lead to layoffs, but closing campuses is not on the table at this time, top school officials said Tuesday.
In coming years, the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin may become more than academic at some University of Wisconsin campuses. They may find themselves in a Darwinian struggle to remain open and relevant in the face of two more years of expected state budget cuts and a tuition freeze for state undergraduates also expected to be extended another two years.
Here’s hoping the debate is an honest effort to improve the performance, accessibility and accountability of the state’s largest higher education system, not a political exercise driven by perception rather than fact.
As UW System officials brace for funding cuts in Gov. Scott Walker’s new budget, an organization of UW-Madison faculty says the campus cannot absorb much more.
MENOMONIE, Wis. WEAU- An effort by three University of Wisconsin System campuses to add engineering programs in northwest Wisconsin to address critical employer needs received a major boost Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Sen. Scott Fitzgerald is awaiting more details from Gov. Scott Walker, but says flexibility will be a consideration.
Fewer than half of the elite research institutions that comprise the Association of American Universities will participate in that group’s effort to anonymously survey students about the prevalence of sexual assault on campuses. The association said Thursday that 27 of its 60 U.S. members and one non-member college will join the effort.
Changes could be on the way for the UW System in the next state budget.
The frenzy over college sexual assault now sweeping the nation was triggered by a specific event. In 2010, a small team of investigative journalists published a report revealing, so they claimed, an epidemic of college rape. The report was a jumble of highly selective reporting and dubious statistics, as we shall see. But the reporters spread the news far and wide and no one thought to question their accuracy.
More than 800,000 students at 28 college campuses will be asked about sexual assault this spring, one of the largest surveys ever on the topic.
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank says there is no proposal under discussion that would give her campus independence beyond that of the university system.
Schools in the “Power Five“ leagues have pledged to make the extra money available to all their student-athletes who are on scholarship.
The chancellor responds to a State Journal report that Gov. Walker is considering giving the UW System more flexibility.
… once public universities or public university systems get the authority to increase tuition, “you get the tendency to increase tuition.”
Noted: Fred Kessler earned his bachelors and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, while Joan Kessler earned her bachelors degree from the University of Kansas and her law degree from Marquette University.
Universities can no longer adopt a “one size fits all” approach to higher education. The reality, says David Ward, is that today’s universities are living in a era of revenue stress, coupled with a digital revolution and an increasingly diverse student population.
Days after The Wisconsin State Journal reported Gov. Scott Walker was considering splitting UW-Madison from the rest of the UW System in his budget proposal, neither state Republicans nor System officials have confirmed or denied the allegation.
University of Wisconsin rewarded exceptional staff performances with more than 1,637 merit payments in 2014, the most awarded by any state agency.
Community colleges were back in the spotlight on Tuesday night, as President Obama plugged his plan to make the institutions free for millions of students.
The universities would operate as a public authority, under an idea being discussed.
According to finaid.org, the student loan debt in the United States currently amounts $1.2 trillion and counting. With a larger percentage of UW students now receiving financial aid and graduating with debt, the costs of college continues to live on even after graduation.
The University of Wisconsin System Administration named Wisconsin native Alex Hummel as the new Associate Vice President for Communications Jan. 8.
But he won’t expand on the internal discussions until his Feb. 3 budget address.
Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged Monday that his administration is considering granting more autonomy to the University of Wisconsin System.
It didn’t take long for some opponents to line up against a possible decoupling of the state’s universities from the state.
As he continues work on his proposed biennial budget, Governor Scott Walker says he’s still looking at possible plans for the future of the University of Wisconsin System and its flagship campus.
Quoted: Jacob Stampen, professor emeritus in educational leadership and policy analysis.
The leaders of Washington University in St. Louis have decided that it has a distinction they no longer want: the nation’s least economically diverse top college.
Undergraduates at UW-Madison who take out student loans graduated with an average of $27,711 in debt last year, up 4 percent from the year before, UW-Madison News reports. That remains below the national average of $28,400 in 2013, according to a report from the Office of Student Financial Aid.
Noted: She earned her master’s degree in Educational Administration from UW-Madison. She also has more than 45 graduate credits toward a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from UW-Madison. In 2013, she received the Wisconsin Women in Higher Education Leadership Outstanding Achievement Award.
The UW-Madison Office of Student Financial Aid said in a news release on Tuesday the average student loan for students getting their undergraduate degrees in 2014 went from $26,625 the previous year to $27,711 in 2014, still below the 2013 national average of $28,400.
Noted: “Considering the popularity of Washington’s performance funding model, we are surprised the impacts on associate’s degree productivity are so modest,” wrote the study’s co-authors, who are Nicholas Hillman of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, David Tandberg of Florida State University and Alisa Hicklin Fryar of the University Oklahoma.
The lawsuit brought by UW-Milwaukee student leaders is now a federal case.
While the early plans focused on long-term goals like graduation rates, the new versions, which the reformers have dubbed “Performance 2.0,” give colleges credit for intermediate measures such as student retention or transfer rates, or the numbers of students completing remedial mathematics or earning their first 15 college credits, said the report’s lead author, Nicholas W. Hillman, who discusses the findings here. He is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His co-authors are David A. Tandberg, an assistant professor of higher education at Florida State University, and Alisa Hicklin Fryar, an associate professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma.
Lead researcher Nicholas W. Hillman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison cautioned against over-interpretation of his study that compares Washington state college outcomes to similar states without performance funding systems for community colleges.
Also noted: The hiring of Alex Hummel as an associate vice president for communications with the University of Wisconsin System.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, UW-Madison professor and founding director of the Wisconsin Harvesting Opportunities for Postsecondary Education, or HOPE, Lab, thinks paying for college with need-based government aid is an antiquated model and supports Obama’s proposal. There is “clear evidence that most families are struggling to afford the cost of even community college today,” she said. Still, the existence of students who manage to pay for college without any government help isn’t proof that there isn’t enough help available.
More than a dozen of the nation’s top research universities have declined an offer by the Association of American Universities to anonymously survey their students about the prevalence of sexual assault on campus.
President Barack Obama’s proposal to make community college free is “both smart and bold,” says Sara Goldrick-Rab, the UW-Madison education policy analyst who has focused her research on making college affordable.
Two UW-Madison professors last spring proposed making the first two years of college free. “Students will not face any costs for tuition, fees, books or supplies, and will receive a stipend and guaranteed employment at a living wage to cover their living expenses,” wrote Sara Goldrick-Rab and Nancy Kendall, who study educational policy at the university. “Unsubsidized, dischargeable loans of a small amount will also be available for those who need them.”
For three years, Jeanette Johnson has been helping keep University of Wisconsin-Superior clean. Now, Johnson says she’s ready to make a clean break.
In 2012, Heidi Macpherson was looking to move her career forward.
When Sara Goldrick-Rab argued that two years of college should be free—as she has repeatedly in the past year—most everyone told her that that was impossible. Sometimes there was laughter.
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Thursday that he would propose a government program to make community college tuition-free for millions of students, an ambitious plan that would expand educational opportunities across the United States.
Millions of students nationwide could be eligible for two years of free community-college tuition under a proposal that President Obama will outline on Friday during an appearance at Pellissippi State Community College, in Tennessee.
President Obama is going big with his higher education announcement in Tennessee on Friday. He wants to make the first two years of community college as free as high school.
Speaking to the Madison Rotary Club yesterday, Cross acknowledged the state is facing a tough budget and the university system shouldn’t be exempt as lawmakers manage scarce resources. But he said the university should be viewed as a partner and investment, rather than an expense.
A Dane County judge has refused to reissue a restraining order against frequent University of Wisconsin System protester Jeff Decker.
As university presidents, deans, lawyers and counselors are called to task for their missteps in handling the rash of campus sex abuse scandals, the one group that has the most interaction with students is largely left out to sea–their professors. Faculty are rarely informed of individual cases, and are told little about personal issues which lead to students suddenly failing or withdrawing. This occurs despite studies which show that more than with any other group, interaction with their professors provides vital support and strengthens not only students’ academic but also personal outcomes.
Wisconsin’s college savings plan, EdVest, now allows contributions to count for 2014’s taxes as long as they’re made by April 15, the deadline to file tax returns.
URBANA — Faced with more Illinois students turning them down, the University of Illinois has proposed keeping tuition rates flat for in-state freshmen who enroll for this fall.
He offered some possibilities for finding efficiencies. One, he said, was in more flexibilities for the UW System in hiring and financial matters.
[High school dropouts are] enrolled in a new program that can provide them the high school diploma they need and up to two years of college at no cost.
For the past three years, Teresa Piraino of South Milwaukee has diligently filled out the federal application for financial aid for her son Anthony, who is studying criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
University of Wisconsin campuses handed out more than 80% of the hourly pay raises awarded this year under the states merit pay program to employees such as custodians, information services workers and food service administrators.
University of Wisconsin-Superior custodians and groundskeepers received layoff notices Christmas Eve. Their last day of work is Jan. 11, according to Carolyn Kaiser, AFSCME Council 24 Northwest field representative.
Maybe the GOP has actually convinced voters that we do not need and cannot afford a world-class research university such as the one we have at UW-Madison. After all, it is GOP pols who like to say — to dodge overwhelming evidence that climate change exists — that they cannot opine on it because they are not scientists. So, not grasping the promise of stem cells and other advanced research, maybe they think Wisconsin’s flagship university should stick to training for professions they understand.
Controversial reforms proposed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Burlington, for the University of Wisconsin — like monitoring professors’ workload and rethinking tenure — may not even be applicable at UW-Madison, says faculty advocacy group PROFS.
University of Wisconsin-Superior announced Friday that its suspending five academic programs.
UW-Madison doesn’t include graduate earning information to the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, but payscale.com ranks it 166th for bachelor’s degree holders among 1,002 schools.
