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Dems: UW Grants & Student Retention
Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol want to send more money to the University of Wisconsin to keep students coming back, and want a new scholarship program for the non-Madison campuses.
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein and Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer on Thursday introduced what they are calling the “Higher Education Powers Wisconsin” Package.
“The bills we are introducing today will help keep our homegrown talent here in Wisconsin, improve affordability and make higher education more attainable for more Wisconsin students and their families,” the leaders said in a joint statement.
The first plan would send $10 million to the UW each year for "student retention and talent development efforts," though nothing in the legislation defines what that means.
But Hesselbein and Neubauer said that includes covering the costs of "academic and career advising and helping connect students to basic needs resources both on and off campus."
The University of Wisconsin has trouble with student retention.
The number of students who return in the fall depends wildly between campuses, and between which fall you are measuring.
UW-Madison has the best retention rate, at 96% for students returning for a second fall semester. UW-Parkside has the worst second fall retention rate at just under 69%.
Overall, the entire UW System has an 82% retention rate for that second fall semester.
But that overall UW retention rate drops, down to 67%, by the time a student should be returning for their fourth fall semester.
The Democrats’ second package would create another Tuition Promise grant program. It would provide “last-dollar, gap funding” to students who come from families who make $71,000 or less, and go to a non-Madison UW campus.
UW-Madison already has the Bucky’s Tuition Promise which covers the same “last dollar, gap funding” for students at UW-Madison who come from families who make $65,000 or less.
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