Compiled by Kim McDarison
A report released by the Wisconsin Policy Forum on Tuesday shows that enrollment in Wisconsin colleges and universities has “generally” been falling even faster than the national trend.
The report concludes, “financial aid could serve as one tool to help address this decline while providing benefits to low-income students and students of color in particular.”
The report acknowledges the development of declining workforce trends throughout the state.
The report, titled: “A Little Help: Is Financial Aid Keeping College Affordable in Wisconsin?” found that even as the state’s workforce faces, in some cases, “severe shortages,” support for Wisconsin students through state and federal financial aid has “lagged and in some respects even declined over the past decade.”
The report finds that state spending on grants, loans and scholarships to undergraduate students increased during the 2000s, but has decreased in recent years.
The report cited data from the Higher Educational Aids Board and Legislative Fiscal Bureau, and noted that even with spending at $119.1 million in 2021, total spending was down by 0.5% from the amount spent in 2011 “even before adjusting for inflation.”
When making comparisons between public, private and technical colleges, the report found the average grant offered to students seeking aid through the Wisconsin Grants program, the state’s main form of need-based financial aid, was smaller for students entering into various state programs than awards offered in 2010 and 2011.
In 2021, the report noted, the average Wisconsin Grants award given to students in the UW System was $2,037, which was down from the comparative grant offered in 2010. Students enrolling in the Wisconsin Technical College System saw a peak in grant amounts in 2011 at $955. In 2021, the comparative award was $865.
Within the report, key findings include:
• State spending on grants, loans, and scholarships to undergraduate students grew rapidly from 2000 to 2011 but fell 0.5% between 2011 and 2021, without adjusting for inflation.
• Even adjusted for inflation, the average unmet need for in-state undergraduates receiving financial aid at all higher education institutions in Wisconsin has grown 135.6% from $3,755 in 2000 to $8,845 in 2021.
• The average Wisconsin Grant and federal Pell Grant combined paid for 91.4% of in-state undergraduate tuition at UW-Madison in 2002 but only 69% in 2021.
• Wisconsin’s 2020 spending on grants to undergraduates worked out to $541 per student, 44.8% lower than the national average of nearly $980 per undergraduate.
• Wisconsin’s total grant aid to undergraduates increased from $107.2 million in 2010 to $120.9 million in 2020, or 12.8%. That was 36th among the 50 states. Nationally, grant aid increased by 46%, or more than three-and-a-half times as much.
Offering options, the report outlined the following:
• Make progress without spending large sums: Low-cost options include consolidating small aid programs scattered across various state agencies, creating a one-stop state website that could provide information on all public financial aid programs for Wisconsin students, and supporting students and families to ensure they fill out a key federal form needed to access financial aid.
• Provide a bump in overall funding: At a relatively modest cost, the state could provide a funding increase for its need-based Wisconsin Grants program. It would cost just under $6.1 million to provide an additional 10%, or $204, to each of the 29,881 UW System students who received grants averaging $2,037 in 2021. Providing 10% increases to students at other types of institutions would require an even smaller investment. Some financial aid could be targeted, if desired, toward students studying in certain in-demand fields.
• Tie financial aid to student cost: A key problem for financial aid levels in Wisconsin has been the fact that neither overall funding nor average grant amounts are tethered to student costs. The state could remedy that by tying either total funding levels or the target grant amounts for programs such as the Wisconsin Grants to an objective standard such as tuition costs, the Consumer Price Index, or other inflation measure.
• Expand Bucky’s Tuition Promise or consider another such program: UW-Madison already offers Bucky’s Tuition Promise, which guarantees enough scholarships and grants to cover four years of tuition and fees for freshman students with household incomes of $60,000 or less. Policymakers could consider expanding the tuition promise to other UW campuses as well as extending a similar promise to low-income students at technical and tribal colleges. They also may wish to consider providing additional assistance to private college students.
According to a news release about the report, “During the pandemic, students have faced unprecedented challenges and, perhaps not surprisingly, post-secondary enrollment and retention rates have fallen to a concerning degree. Now, an influx of federal pandemic aid and unprecedented recent rise in state tax collections create a unique opportunity to use financial aid as one tool to support students in this precarious time. Doing so could boost long-term earnings for these students and tax collections for the state, help address some workforce challenges, and ensure a more equitable society in the years to come.”
In its conclusion, the report notes: “For the past decade, Wisconsin has chosen not to prioritize student financial aid, relying instead on a state-imposed freeze on in-state undergraduate tuition at the UW System campuses.”
Moving forward, the report concludes: “financial aid is likely to become increasingly important for the state’s students and ultimately, its labor force.”
In response to the reports findings, UW System interim President Michael J. Falbo stated: “State support for its public universities here in Wisconsin has fallen from around 30 percent in 2002 to 18 percent today. While students and families are picking up more of the costs of education, student aid has also fallen behind. Declining student aid increases student debt, depresses enrollment, and exacerbates Wisconsin’s workforce challenges.
“The University of Wisconsin is the state’s primary magnet for developing, attracting, and retaining talent. Yet, investment in financial aid for Wisconsin students is now well below national averages. That is why we proposed expanding UW-Madison’s Bucky’s Tuition Promise to all UW System universities in the last budget. Targeted aid to students will help more than just those students and families affected, it would help all of Wisconsin. More students getting more education leads to more graduates. Simply put, student aid should be an easy investment to increase personal earnings and address workforce shortages.”
The full report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum is here: https://wispolicyforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ALittleHelp_Full.pdf.
About the Wisconsin Policy Forum
The Wisconsin Policy Forum is the state’s leading source of nonpartisan, independent research on state and local public policy. As a nonprofit, the organization’s research is supported by members including “hundreds of corporations, nonprofits, local governments, school districts, and individuals,” as stated in a press release. To learn more, visit: wispolicyforum.org.
The report: “A Little Help: Is Financial Aid Keeping College Affordable in Wisconsin?” was funded, in part, by contributions from the Herzfeld Foundation, the Higher Education Regional Alliance, the ADAMM Foundation, and the Milwaukee Regional Research Forum, according to a press release.
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, file photo/Kim McDarison.
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We are well on our way to becoming Wississippi. We are racing to the bottom quicker than I ever imagined we would. Please support restoring a balanced legislature in Wisconsin.