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Last week, UW-Marshfield/Wood County hosted the Central Wisconsin Higher Education Legislative Breakfast.  We had about 10 legislators in attendance, along with representatives from our campus, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Marathon County.

The breakfast provided legislators an opportunity to ask questions of our students, faculty and administrators.  Several of those questions focused on access to higher education, particularly for low-income students.

It’s no secret that the University of Wisconsin System has seen significant budget cuts. As a result, we’ve gone from a low-tuition state to a moderate-to-high-tuition state, with less than 30 percent of the System’s budget coming from the state in the 2003-05 budget. 

Wisconsin is not alone.  According to the national Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, in 1975, 7.1 percent of low-income students completed a bachelor’s degree by age 26, compared to 38 percent of high-income students.  In 2004, only 8.6 percent of low-income student were earning degrees, compared to 60 percent of high-income students.

Proposed cuts in financial aid will certainly not improve those statistics.  Here at UW-Marshfield/Wood County, 59 percent of our students receive financial aid.  Even the two-year campuses like ours, which offer the lowest college tuition in Wisconsin at $4,207 per semester, are starting to hear of students who struggle with rising tuition costs.

What’s the solution?  A combination of things, really.  As a state, Wisconsin certainly needs to invest more in higher education so that bachelor’s degrees are truly available to everyone.  Families also need to make postsecondary education a priority, saving for their children’s college education from little on. Financial planners can advise parents and students on 529 plans and other college-savings programs.

Unfortunately, both of these solutions can’t be achieved overnight.  They require long-term planning and commitment from a variety of sources.  That doesn’t mean these goals are unachievable. But it does mean that access to higher education will continue to be a challenge for some prospective students in the short term.

Dr. Andrew Keogh is the dean and campus executive officer of UW-Marshfield/Wood County, a freshmen-sophomore campus of the University of Wisconsin.