UW financial aid not keeping up with tuition increase
WGBA-TV

July 10 - Students in Wisconsin may be having more trouble paying for college.

A report on the University of Wisconsin System says financial aid isn't keeping pace with tuition increases.

The report is by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

Alliance president Todd Berry says poorer families now make up a smaller percentage of the student body than they did a decade ago.

The group says undergraduate tuition and fees for state residents attending System schools increased almost 27 percent from 1998-99 to 2002-03. The average financial aid package increased by about 16 percent.

That disparity is likely to grow after U-W regents approved increasing tuition to help offset cuts in state aid.

Berry says the state must increase financial aid if it hopes to keep college as affordable as it traditionally has been.

Source: AP

This could be a good reason why Petri talks about how to make student loans easier.

I think that we need to ensure that higher education is affordable for all. Right now, if you are from a household that makes $75,000 or more a year, your chances of attending a 4-year college are 5 in 6. The same qualified student, if their household income is under $25,000 only have a 1 in 2 chance.

The solution to this is not to ensure the ability of the poor to assume lifetime debt to attend college. The solution it to make sure the public university system can accommodate those with special needs.

At the same time that real wages are falling for working families, tuitions are rising for their children. This is not the American Dream.

-jef-