Dean Yohnk’s “Speaking of Education” Column
February 2015
Last week Governor Walker announced that his upcoming biennial state budget proposal includes an
unprecedented 13% budget cut – equaling more than $300 million – to the UW System.
In the past week I have been contacted by many concerned local citizens, UW-BC students and alumni,
local elected officials, and faculty and staff asking me to explain how these proposed cuts to the UW
System budget -- coupled with an extended tuition freeze through 2017 – will likely impact UW-BC and
the educational programming that we provide to all citizens of Northwest Wisconsin.
While it is too early for UW leadership and legislators to determine the full impact of these proposed
funding cuts and tuition freezes, we do know that these cuts will have significant implications for each
campus in the UW System – including UW-BC.
As a small UW campus (approximately 600 students) with a relatively limited budget, UW-BC will need
to be especially creative and innovative in making strategic budget reductions while also striving to
increase overall campus enrollments and seeking additional external sources of revenue.
As a UW Colleges campus, UW-BC tuition has the lowest in the UW System, a tuition that is between 2550% less than UW comprehensive four year campuses. Our very low tuition has provided our students
with access to an excellent UW education at the lowest possible cost – a very good thing for our
students and our region.
However, freezing our already-low tuition through 2017 and also cutting State base budget funding to
the campus by up to 13% presents UW-BC with significant budgetary challenges and shortfalls that will
result in fewer curricular offerings and reduced staffing on the campus. Since nearly 90% of our total
campus budget covers the costs of salaries and benefits, we will be forced to cut employee positions.
Because teaching and delivering excellent educations to our students is our top priority, we do know
that we must do everything possible to make these curricular and staffing cuts in a manner that has the
least possible negative impact on our students.
Needless to say, this is a very difficult challenge for small campuses like UW-BC that are already
operating on very limited budgets and with a relatively low number of faculty and staff.
Our 62 full and part time faculty and staff – many of whom work between 40-50 hours per week while
earning some of the lowest salaries in the UW system – are already working above and beyond the call
of duty because of their extraordinary commitment to our students and our campus mission.
As the details of Governor Walker’s planned cuts to the UW System are announced and analyzed in the
coming days and weeks, I urge concerned citizens and legislators from Northwest Wisconsin to carefully
consider the significant impact that these proposed budget reductions will likely have on small but
regionally-important UW campuses like UW-BC.
I encourage you to contact your local and state elected officials, including Rep. Romaine Quinn who is a
proud graduate of UW-BC, and Senator Janet Bewley, to advocate for continued funding and support for
UW-BC an its vital role as Northwest Wisconsin’s only UW College campus.