Dive Brief:
- The chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced a plan to eliminate 400 positions and close or restructure multiple programs in light of expected cuts in state funding.
- The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that most of those 400 positions are already vacant and other layoffs could be pre-empted by greater-than-expected funding from the state legislature.
- Critics called Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s announcement of the cuts premature and a strategy to galvanize lobbying support in the state capitol as officials continue to debate next year’s budget, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
Wisconsin is one of a handful of states in which governors have proposed significant budget cuts to higher education. Most are still being hashed out by state legislatures, but Kansas institutions are already guaranteed a 2% across-the-board reduction. Overall, colleges and universities nationwide are seeing increasing investment in higher education as state budgets recover from the recession. The few cases where this is not true, however, could be devastating. If UW-Madison is forced to make the cuts Blank suggested, it will limit the university’s competitiveness and dampen its appeal to prospective students.