(The Center Square) – At least one Wisconsin Republican says the University of Wisconsin isn’t telling the whole story when it comes to what the state pays.
UW President Jay Rothman last week announced the UW System slipped once again in the national ranking on state funding.
“Wisconsin is now 44th out of 50 states in public funding of four-year universities – a drop of one spot – according to the latest national study of higher education funding,” the university said.
“Wisconsin is renowned for its affordable and accessible public universities. Yet we can’t languish at the bottom anymore without seriously jeopardizing Wisconsin’s economic vibrancy,” Rothman added.
He is asing state lawmakers for $856 million in the next state budget.
Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Markesan, however said taxpayers need to know the truth about the UW’s funding.
“President Rothman and many others have boasted about how the 13 universities across Wisconsin are the best in the country and world, yet are quick to say that the taxpayers aren’t funding higher education enough.,” Dallman said. “The UW System is more worried about their national ranking than taking accountability for their lack of transparency here in Wisconsin.”
The University of Wisconsin’s total budget in the current state spending plan is just under $14 billion for the two years of the state budget. And spending between the 2023-2024 school year, and the 2024-2025 school year grew by almost 6%.
State funding is the smallest of the major pieces of university funding,at 18%, or about $2.5 billion. Federal funds make-up about 24% of the UW’s budget, with a lot of that going toward research.
Tuition is the largest single source of funding for the UW. The school says 58% of its money comes from students.
Dallman those are just rough numbers. He said the UW doesn’t provide specifics.
“When I asked the UW System exactly how taxpayer dollars are distributed to each campus, their answer was not surprising. They don’t have any specifics, just that ‘the process is complex’ and is based on a ‘base plus’ model,” Dallman added. “This means that millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars are determined by what UW System feels each campus deserves, not using any standard metric or formula.”
Dallman also said there are unanswered questions about what the UW is spending money on.
“The UW System continues to invest millions of dollars in DEI and administrative bloat across our campuses. This is a complete waste of critical funding that should be going directly into our classrooms and labs,” he said. “I know my constituents and many other taxpayers across the state are deeply concerned about the UW System’s lack of transparency and accountability. It’s time for the UW System to get serious.”
