Board calls for increase in financial aid

MADISON (AP) - The University of Wisconsin System and other college associations have endorsed a commission finding that calls for an increase in college aid in the next state budget.

The state Higher Educational Aids Board released a report this week concluding that financial-aid resources were insufficient to meet students' needs. The commission said more than 76,200 college students who were eligible for need-based grants last year didn't receive them because state funding ran out, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.

The commission's chief recommendation involved changing the law such that the amount available for certain financial aid goes up by the same percentage that tuition increases.

On Tuesday, the report received a joint endorsement from the UW System, the state association for independent colleges, the state technical college system and the College of Menominee Nation.

"As the report recommends, we must safeguard current aid programs while looking for responsible ways to serve more hardworking UW students," UW System President Kevin Reilly said in a statement.

• Click here to read the full report

The Higher Educational Aids Board is the state agency that manages and oversees the state's student financial aid system. It administers programs involving grants, scholarships and loans.

Its report said that spending more money on helping students go to college would benefit the state in terms of long-term economic growth. The board noted that Wisconsin ranks 26th in the percentage of its population with a college degree, and 26th in per capita income. Minnesota ranks 11th both in percentage of residents with a college degree and in per-capita income.

"The alignment ... could not be more dramatic," said Rolf Wegenke, president of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

He also noted that Minnesota spends more on financial aid than Wisconsin does. Minnesota ranks 13th in per-capita grant aid, while Wisconsin ranks 30th nationally, he said.

State funding for the largest need-based college grants was $108.2 million in fiscal 2010-2011, an increase of $10.2 million over the previous fiscal year.

Kathleen Cullen, an executive with the Wisconsin Technical College System, said state financial aid is especially important to her students because they're more likely to be paying for their own education.

And Verna Fowler, the president of the College of Menominee Nation, said the commission's recommendations would go a long way toward helping some of most challenged students.

"In almost every measure, the Wisconsin students attending tribal colleges are the most disadvantaged of the disadvantaged in our state," Fowler said. "... We continue to say that education is the best anti-poverty program there is."