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Interim UW-System President Requests Over $100 Million Boost for the System

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020 -- 8:40 AM

(AP) -Interim University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson said Tuesday that he’ll ask Gov. Tony Evers to include a nearly $100 million boost for the system in the next state budget and give him permission to borrow up to $1 billion as the coronavirus pandemic bleeds revenue from campuses.

Thompson has plenty of political capital as Wisconsin’s only four-term governor, but the request will test the limits of that goodwill as Evers and legislators grapple with widening pandemic-induced shortfalls. Thompson, ever the cheerleader, told reporters during a video conference that UW deserves the additional funds because it’s an economic engine that can pull the state out of its financial woes. Summary documents indicate Thompson is seeking an additional $95.7 million to help launch a host of new initiatives. Chief among them is the Wisconsin Tuition Promise, a pledge to pay up to four years’ worth of tuition and fees at any regional campus for incoming state resident freshmen and transfer students whose families make $60,000 or less. The initiative is modeled after UW-Madison’s Bucky’s Tuition Promise, which covers tuition for resident freshmen and transfer students at the state’s flagship university. The money also would go toward expanding and enhancing online courses, forgiving teachers’ student loans, providing stipends for student teachers, adding 20 county-based agriculture positions in the Division of Extension at UW-Madison, expanding student mental health services and classes for prisoners.

Thompson also plans to ask Evers to include permission in the budget to borrow between $500 million and $1 billion in the current fiscal year to cushion pandemic-related losses. On top of that, Thompson wants $1.2 billion in the state capital budget for renovations across the system and an additional $4.5 million for the Wisconsin Grant-UW, the state’s largest financial aid program for system students. The program was short nearly $2.3 million in 2019-20, according to the summary. One thing the request doesn’t do is seek to lift a seven-year-old freeze on in-state undergraduate tuition. Thompson said during the video conference the time wasn’t right to ask students to pay more in light of the pandemic.

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