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Scott Walker on Education

Republican Wisconsin Governor

 


Expand charters & vouchers; straight per-pupil support

Q: Increase funding for K-12 education?

Tony Evers (D): Yes. Increase by $1.4 billion. Increased $ for special education, kindergarten for 4 year olds, & teachers who work in high-poverty districts.

Scott Walker (R): Major cuts in 2011, more recent increases. Shifts from supporting low-income districts more to straight per-pupil support.

Q: Support expansion of charter schools & vouchers enabling parents getting public help for private school costs?

Evers: No. Would freeze enrollment in school choice programs & phase out unless public schools were fully funded.

Walker: Yes. Has expanded both charter schools & voucher programs.

Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Wisconsin Governor race , Oct 9, 2018

Froze UW tuition; cut $500 million from higher ed

Q: Increase state funding for higher education?

Tony Evers (D): Yes. Will Increase investments in both our technical schools & University of Wisconsin (UW) system.

Scott Walker (R): Froze UW tuition. Cut $500 million from higher ed support. Recently restored $100 million.

Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Wisconsin Governor race , Oct 9, 2018

Help college students refinance loans

To make college more affordable for students and working families, we froze University of Wisconsin tuition for all undergraduates from our state for six years in a row. We're partnering with financial institutions to help graduates refinance student loans. And financial assistance for students in need is at an all-time high, making higher education possible for thousands of students at colleges and universities across the state.
Source: 2018 Wisconsin State of the State address , Jan 24, 2018

Private refinancing options for student loan debt

We need to focus on the price of going to college in the first place. For the past four years, we froze undergraduate, in-state tuition for students at all University of Wisconsin campuses. A typical student saves more than $6,300 over four years when compared to the trend before the freeze.

During the decade before our freeze, tuition went up 118%. Ironically, some of the people who were around when UW tuition went up more than 8% on average each year now want the state to create a new government bureaucracy to refinance student loans.

We found a better way to help people with high debt. Our administration has worked with Wisconsin's very own financial institutions to promote refinancing options available to those with student loan debt. Wisconsin credit unions and banks offer refinancing at rates that are the same or better than what is offered by many government-supported programs in other states.

Source: 2017 State of the State address to Wisconsin Legislature , Jan 10, 2017

Continue with tuition freezes

And speaking of students, we helped make college more affordable at our University of Wisconsin campuses as we froze tuition--for the first time ever--four years in a row. During the ten years before our freeze, the average annual increase in tuition within the University of Wisconsin System was over 8 percent. That was a 118 percent increase over a decade. Compared to the previous trend, our tuition freeze saves the average student more than $6,000 over four years.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Wisconsin legislature , Jan 19, 2016

Multiple strategies to increase accessibility of college

  1. We will allow for the full deduction of student loan interest on state income taxes.
  2. We will increase grants for technical colleges.
  3. We'll expand the emergency grants program for students at technical colleges and 2-year UW Colleges.
  4. We'll increase internships within the UW System to help prepare students for future careers.
  5. We look to expand transparency by sending information to students each year about their current & projected student loan debt levels and education costs.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Wisconsin legislature , Jan 19, 2016

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