Republicans unlikely to fund UW tuition promise program for low-income students

The long-term prospect of a tuition promise program for low-income University of Wisconsin System students is in jeopardy after a top lawmaker said the Republican-controlled Legislature is unlikely to fund it.

The UW System is funding the first year of the Wisconsin Tuition Promise program, which launches next fall and provides full tuition coverage for new, in-state freshmen and transfer students whose families earn $62,000 or less. The program is open to students attending any UW campus except UW-Madison, which already offers its own tuition promise program that isn't funded with taxpayer money.

UW System has asked the state to fund the program after the first year but Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, recently shot down the idea. He suggested the program be privately funded, similar to UW-Madison's.

“If the university wants to go out and raise private resources, I think that’s an excellent use of their fundraising prowess if they choose to,” Vos told The Daily Cardinal, one of UW-Madison's student newspapers. “I think it’s probably not something we’re going to be able to fund at the state level when we see so many folks struggling with paying their taxes and all of the other bills.”

The UW System is committed to fund the 2023 cohort for four years, UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch told the Journal Sentinel.

The four-year commitment hasn't been previously reported, eliminating uncertainty for the incoming crop of promise students who are applying under the premise that they would likely receive full tuition coverage for more than one year. But a lack of state money to support the program in the second year and beyond will likely create additional budgetary pressures on campuses to sustain the program.

UW System President Jay Rothman said the tuition promise program is one of the best ways for Wisconsin to "win the war for talent."

"Partnering with the legislature on the structure of this program to make it a reality will be a priority, as we believe we share the common goal of addressing workforce challenges," he said in a statement. "However, our regional universities will need state support to provide these Tuition Promise opportunities for future students and families."

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: State funding unlikely for UW System's Wisconsin Tuition Promise program