STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) — The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point had a few victories in the Joint Finance Committee’s final budget affecting UW System cuts. Chancellor Bernie Patterson says there is no doubt the campus will have to make cuts as will every other campus in the system, but the committee’s decisions Friday preserved or enhanced a couple of key programs that have strong ties to business and industry. “Some of those special segregated programs were restored. The NADF (Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility) facility that we operate on the shores of Lake Superior at Bayfield, the funding was reinstated, and (they) added an extra $100,000 dollars to that for a new extension position in aquaponics, so that will certainly help reduce the size of our cut. They also restored what is known as the Forestry Grant.”
The Forestry Grant is what pays for the UW Stevens Point operator of the paper machine they have on campus.
Another issue Patterson sees as a victory for the Stevens Point campus is a budget provision which will allow them to have differential tuition. The UWSP differential tuition plan would have students pay about $200 dollars more each semester or $1,600 dollars over four years. “That’s something we’ve been working on for more than five years. Ten of the other universities already have this mechanism in place and have benefited from it, their students have, and the Joint Finance Committee saw the inequity in the situation that existed for a number of years and took actions to correct that, and we are very grateful for that.”
This money would be designated to pay for staff and materials in “bottleneck courses,” which are the mandatory classes many students have trouble getting into because they’re usually filled to capacity. Patterson says this will help students finish in four years instead of having to return for an additional semester, which cost an additional $7,500 dollars.
As far as the rest of the UW System budget approved Friday, Patterson knows there are difficult decisions ahead, and more work to do as they follow the budget package through the Assembly, the State Senate, and then the Governor’s office. Patterson says the proposed change of cutting $250-million instead of $300-million dollars is a step in the right direction, but they don’t yet know how the change affects the local campus. “We don’t have all of the numbers yet to do the next analysis. In the original proposal, we were set to lose 25% of our state support. That was the highest percentage of any university in the system. “
About 100 UW Stevens Point faculty and staff have been offered an early retirement option. Patterson does not know yet how many of them will accept the package. He confirms they have already lost some staff members, and they are evaluating which positions may not be filled.
(Listen to our interview with Chancellor Bernie Patterson on our web site, here.)
