UW-Madison in Financial Crisis
Thursday, August 13th, 2020 -- 10:06 AM
(AP) -University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank delivered a sobering message Wednesday about the state’s flagship campus as the fall semester looms, saying “we’re in a real financial crisis” due to the coronavirus pandemic.How bad the crisis will be depends on several factors, Blank said in an online presentation at the Rotary Club of Madison. Those include whether students who are enrolled for the fall semester actually show up, how deep state budget cuts are and whether the Legislature gives the university the authority to borrow money. Blank projected the loss to UW-Madison to be around $150 million with a full student body this fall. The loss will be greater if fewer students return who have committed and if state budget cuts worsen, she said. For now, the university is on track to have its target of around 7,400 freshmen on campus, she said. The university system was cut nearly $49 million out of a $70 million reduction across state government ordered by Gov. Tony Evers this spring. Evers ordered an additional $250 million cut for the current fiscal year, which began in July, but UW does not know its share yet.
Blank said university leaders, including former governor and interim UW President Tommy Thompson, were urging Evers to not have UW shoulder two-thirds of the cut like it did in the previous round. Blank said there will be more furloughs and budget cuts beyond those already announced, but the severity of those won’t be known until after fall enrollment numbers are final. Thompson announced Tuesday that there will be a 10% cut in UW System administration employees who are state funded, resulting in an unknown number of layoffs. Thompson was also lobbying state lawmakers for the ability to borrow money, something Blank said every other flagship campus across the country is able to do.
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