HUFFINGTON POST: Scott Walker Decimates Wisconsin Higher Education To Build A Basketball Arena

Career College Central Summary:

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's state faced a big budget deficit. To solve it, he plans to decimate one of the most respected and productive university systems in the country. And he plans to spend hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars for a professional basketball arena.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau projected the Dairy State would have a $283 million deficit. Initially Governor Walker announced a plan of shared sacrifice. He promised on January 5, 2015 on the WKOW TV show "Capitol City Sunday" that he planned on cutting "bits and pieces of just about every part of state government," to deal with the problem.
Or so Wisconsin residents thought.
On January 27, 2015, the University of Wisconsin learned that the axe would fall on them. Governor Walker announced plans to cut $300 million from the University of Wisconsin system. By the book, that's decimating the University of Wisconsin system, as the entire UW budget comes to $2.9 billion.
Here's what Governor Walker's press team called it: "Empowering a Stronger UW System to Educate Our Children for the Workforce of Today and Tomorrow." I suppose that sounded better than "See If You Can Do More With Less."
Walker claimed it would "provide a stronger UW System in the future" and would give the state "added flexibility." He went out of his way to promise that the UW System would get more decision making power.
So that means the University of Wisconsin has the freedom to raise tuition?
Wrong. Governor Walker also called for another two year tuition freeze, to go along with a tuition freeze over the last several years. So much for freedom and empowerment.
The "cost savings" is expected to come from salary reductions, firing, ending tenure, reducing health benefits and pension contributions, as well as possible outsourcing education online to for-profit colleges.

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HUFFINGTON POST