“Bucky’s Promise” Leaves other UW Students Curious to see Changes

A Media Milwaukee survey of 50 students found a divided opinion on whether or not UW-Milwaukee should develop a program like UW-Madison’s Bucky’s Promise to offer free tuition to Wisconsin residents whose families earn under $56,000.

When asked, 50 percent of students said that UW-Milwaukee shouldn’t offer tuition reimbursement. They had concerns about increased taxes, increased tuition for those whose families do earn over $56,000 per year and students who are from out of state. Their concerns ranged from personal costs to the costs at a state level.

“[Tuition reimbursement] affects Wisconsin in dramatic ways,” said Adrianna Henry, a finance student. “And will affect budgets and cause cuts in ways we can’t see; it’s not the easy fix that it seems like.”

“I wish students could be provided with more financial aid and that tuition was something that less students had to worry about,” said Katie Miota, director of Admissions at UW-Milwaukee. “Because of the current budgetary crisis, at this point UW-Milwaukee is unable to mirror ‘Bucky’s Promise’ but we are learning about how we can do this.”

While this is exciting for those who qualify and intend to go to UW-Madison, it is a topic of conversation often started with “what about us” at other UW schools.

This spring UW-Madison announced “Bucky’s Promise” to their students. The program allows students attending UW-Madison to receive free tuition funded by private gifts and donations. While the program does not allow any summer or winter classes as part of the funding, it allows up to eight semesters for new freshmen and four semesters for transfer students.

Freshmen and transfer students applying to UW-Madison will automatically be submitted for review on whether or not they qualify for need based grants. This grant is unique because it accounts for straightforward income only and is likely to service nearly 800 students of every incoming freshmen class.

At UW-Milwaukee students pose interesting questions and angles in response to an anonymous survey regarding why or why not, their university should come up with their own tuition reimbursement plan.

Students say that they don’t see the program lasting because tuition is expensive and private donations run out. Some even said that they believe UW-Madison will still face budget-cuts since that money was likely going to go somewhere else or could be used in other ways.

“While UW-Milwaukee supports Madison, and is proud to see so many students positively affected, many of these students were already receiving a significant amount of financial aid, Bucky’s Promise just makes it easier to receive this aid,” said Miota.

Others were critical, asking why other schools weren’t using all of their private donations to subsidize the cost of tuition and offer aid to students in need.

Students said it would be unfair if only UW-Madison offers this, but another student said she’s interested to see whether or not the program even works.

“If it does, well that’s because there aren’t enough people who qualify for the program to use up all that money,” said Henry. “Or the university is going to have an influx of students from poorer areas like Milwaukee and run out of money faster than they expected.”

Miota said that UW-Milwaukee is exploring whether or not this can be offered in Milwaukee but that the problem is complex.

Enrollment within the UW system has been declining since 2014. UW-Milwaukee in particular lost nearly 900 students between the fall of 2014 and 2015 according to the Board of Regents and a speech given by Chancellor Mone in the fall of 2016. This loss in enrollment resulted in an estimated 6.5 million dollar loss for the university.

Wisconsin Public Radio reported that the university increased recruitment in Illinois by 40 percent to encourage Illinois residents to attend and contribute to the deficit caused by the loss when.

While UW-Milwaukee students aren’t pushing for tuition reimbursement, they are acutely aware of what this will do for enrollment at UW-Milwaukee versus UW-Madison, and that the results will lead to dramatic budget cuts.

The Office of Admissions at UW-Milwaukee does not anticipate any tuition increases or programs closing even though the university is facing a budgetary crisis. The university currently employs three full-time employees to recruit in northern Illinois as additional investments to continue to bring more individuals who are both academically prepared and demonstrate the ability to be successful said Miota.

Last year, Mark Mone, UW-Milwaukee Chancellor said in a report that the university expected a 3-4 percent decline in enrollment for the fall 2017 semester which held true as UW-Milwaukee’s enrollment declined 4.7 percent this past fall.

UW-Milwaukee isn’t the only school to suffer losses though, according to the UW-Extension Office UW-Stevens Point’s enrollment declined 6.8 percent while two-year universities within the UW system declined 22.3 percent in enrollment for the fall 2017 semester.

Despite this, Katie Miota, Director of Admissions at UW-Milwaukee said she’s hopeful. While UW-Milwaukee has seen declines in the past, the last incoming freshmen class was actually larger than those preceding it by 3.8 percent.

Miota said that she is very confident in both the programs and opportunities offered by UW-Milwaukee and its ability to attract and retain students here. She said that the university has unique properties and qualities that make it desirable in its own right.