Christian Schneider, a conservative blogger and former senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, writes in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Governor Scott Walker’s biennial budget proposal to increase funding for UW System deserves full legislative support, in large part to keep the cost of tuition down and to maintain the university’s role as an economic engine for the state.
While Schneider is factually wrong on faculty salaries (he cites only salaries for full professors) and he uses a heavy hand to describe students and faculty, he does rightly point out that funding for UW System often lags because its constituency — students and faculty — does not vigorously lobby on its behalf, and tuition increases are a convenient tool to compensate for decreased state funding. Schneider offers more data on tuition rates and faculty salaries on the Journal Sentinel website.