Republican proposes raising UW tuition by inflation, income

MADISON — A key Republican legislator says Gov. Scott Walker's plan to cut University of Wisconsin System tuition could hurt taxpayers and lawmakers should instead consider letting the system raise tuition according to inflation or income increases.

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, a member of the Legislature's powerful budget committee, wrote on the Right Wisconsin website last week that cutting tuition and backfilling it with state tax dollars means many Wisconsin residents who lack college degrees will have to pay higher taxes so others can graduate.

Kooyenga suggested allowing the system, campuses or even specific programs to raise tuition to a percentage that doesn't exceed the increase in Wisconsin median household income or inflation, whichever is less.

Walker wrote Monday on Right Wisconsin that backfilling the tuition cut amounts to funding state priorities.