Blame Republicans for Tuition Increases and Family Crushing Student Loan Debt. It's that simple.

Bottom line: Republicans hate education and don’t like funding it. The cuts they’ve made to the UW and K-12 were the biggest in the nation, along with their attacks on student lending. 

Just remember, Republicans are the guys that gave us crushing student debt, because they reduced public funding of our state colleges, and that directly increased tuition. More on that and a GAO study is below.

The fact is, Dumb Ron Johnson doesn’t get that. Instead, he’s cherry picked a “study” from the NY Fed, that fits his narrative; government sponsored student loan programs have jacked up tuition. Because tuition increases coincided with the GOP's attack on colleges, many tend to believe the Republican lie. Here’s the study and false premise Johnson offers as proof. WPR:

(Ron Johnson) cited a study released this month by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that said that for every new dollar received in Direct Subsidized Loans, tuition goes up by 65 cents.

"As well-intentioned as these programs are, by enticing our children to incur, I think collectively $1.2, $1.3 trillion of student loan debt, we have actually made college less accessible, because we’ve made it less affordable," Johnson said. Johnson said the solution is to give students and their parents information on "all the options" after high school … "We need to kind of break out of, you know, this paradigm where we’re saying everybody has to get a four-year degree.”

Oddly, the “study” Johnson points to never compared GOP defunding to the rise in tuition's. It should have, because even in their own analysis of  2 year community colleges, they inadvertently mentioned it. Check it  out:

Four-year institutions charge higher tuition, on average, resulting in higher dependence on external funding. The two-year sector is almost entirely dominated by public two-year colleges, also known as community colleges … tuition is low, averaging just $2,600 in 2012, largely due to the large share of revenue that is funded through government sources (70%).

Oops. Imagine that, public funding reduces tuition. I wonder if that could work at a 4 year college?

Oh, if you thought manufacturing in the U.S. was on the decline, than you’re not thinking like Scott Walker and Ron Johnson. They’re trying their damndest to return manufacturing to the glory days.

Johnson said there are "tens of thousands" of manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin that are not being filled, so high school graduates can opt for one of them.

As I mentioned, the Government Accountability Office took a look at this around January of this year, and surprise, their analysis is just the opposite of Dumb Ron Johnson's. Wrong again, big time:

These days students pay more of the cost of attending public universities than state governments, a shift that is making college less affordable, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

1. Researchers found that the money public colleges collect in tuition surpassed the money they receive from state funding in 2012. Tuition accounted for 25 percent of school revenue, up from 17 percent in 2003. State funding, meanwhile, plummeted from 32 percent to 23 percent during the same period.

2.  That’s a far cry from the 1970s, when state governments supplied public colleges with nearly 75 percent of their funding, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

3. The number of students enrolled in public colleges rose by 20 percent from the 2002-2003 school year to 2011-2012. Meanwhile, median state funding per student fell 24 percent, from $6,211 in fiscal year 2003 to $4,695 in fiscal year 2012.

It turns out the Republican backed "free market" deregulation and voluntary regulation of Wall Street resulted in increased defunding of education and hikes in tuition. Don't let them say otherwise:  

The GAO said the collapse of the financial markets in 2008 caused … State budgets (to) responded by slashing higher education funding by 23 percent per student. Consider the federal Pell Grant program, which awards money that does not have to be repaid to students whose household incomes are typically $30,000 or less. The maximum Pell award covered 77 percent of the cost of attending a four-year public university in 1980, but that fell to 36 percent by 2011, according to the Education Trust. 

So what is Ron Johnson talking about? I don't think even he knows. But it sure sounds good for all those low information voters.

Of course Scott Walker's attempt to cut UW funding exposed that scheme to conservative alums, who might be to happy now. 

UW Funding slashed, from 48% to a breathtaking 15% in just Ten Years.

The media should really take the time to look at how quickly Scott Walker and the Republican legislature have defunded the UW. Since Walker became governor, funding dropped below 40%. Coincidence? Hardly. Shockingly, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, state tax funding is now down to just 19%. I believe Walker wants to block grant the lump sum of $100 million to the UW from here on out. Keep in mind, there are a lot of numbers being tossed around right now, so it's hard to nail down just what percentage is left after the possible $300 million cut.

A friend passed along this note and chart, expressing the utter frustration she's felt watching her university attacked and possibly dismantled. It's hard to believe how much the state once paid in:

If you personally, like me, received a degree from any of the University of Wisconsin's beautiful, affordable campuses during the era when state tax support covered 50% or more of the cost of an undergraduate degree (see lower chart), and you now support Governor Walker's proposal to cut that same support to a level below 15%, you are either very confused or a selfish hypocrite.

Walker continues to deflect attention away from his dramatic cuts by comparing it to former Governor Jim Doyle's heart breaking decisions during the Great Recession. For Democrats, it was a temporary sacrifice they hoped to restore at their first opportunity. But then the 2010 election happened, and Walker's been riding on the coat tails of the Obama economic recovery ever since. And even then he's still failed to bring business or jobs to the state. 

UW...gone!!! Walker trashes faculty for not teaching more, "doing more work." Oh, and it clears way for more tax cuts.

Scott Walker is so desperate to make his budget busting tax cuts disappear in time for his presidential run, that he's basically getting rid of the University of Wisconsin's funding burden...by cutting it loose. It's also another way to clear the way for those promised future tax cuts. 

Instead of the entire state sharing in the cost of educating our kids, spurring on future economic growth for generations to come, Walker is pushing the entire burden off onto the students and parents. College tuition's will skyrocket like they did in Texas and eliminate middle class access completely, leaving the remaining students with exorbitant student loans to pay off...if ever. 

Lazy Liberal UW Faculty Staffers need to Work Harder: There's a reason for all this. Within the more anecdotal based/anti-science/anti-education bubble Walker inhabits exists the notion faculty elitists loaf all day. What did Governor Dropout say on Charlie Sykes show? jsonline:

"In the future, by not having the limitation of things like shared governance, they might be able to make savings just by asking faculty and staff to consider teaching one more class a semester," Walker told reporters at the Madison hotel … he had told WTMJ-AM host Charlie Sykes, "maybe it's time for faculty and staff to start thinking about teaching more classes and doing more work."

That didn't go over to well at the UW:

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross bristled on a Thursday morning radio talk show at Gov. Scott Walker's remarks the day before that faculty and staff could teach more classes and work harder. Asked during "The Joy Cardin Show" on Wisconsin Public Radio about his reaction to the governor taking a shot at faculty and staff workloads, UW President Ray Cross took a long pause to gather his thoughts and then said:

"I'm very frustrated over that. ... I think it's a shame that people don't understand what faculty really do" … Cross said faculty work 50 to 60 hours a week. "Blame administrators. Don't deride faculty. I'm getting tired of this... I'm tired of faculty being blamed for these problems."

And then Cross pointed out how it looks when our freeloading Republicans are not "working" at the Capitol:  

Cross said Thursday it would be the same thing as criticizing how hard legislators work, "if all we think they do is what we see them do when both chambers are in session."

Walker's cuts to UW will lead to Texas Tuition Disaster.

Scott Walker found a way to fund the new multipurpose arena in downtown Milwaukee as a way to invest in the region and encourage economic development.

Yet Walker doesn't think that same investment in our state colleges would have a similar result, everywhere, not just in Milwaukee. 

The last few years Republicans have been arguing against that idea that young adults needed a college education, were talked into it, and made a costly mistake. Walker is part of that crowd, talking endlessly about the insatiable need for welders. 

Walker, Texas Replayer: Walker must have caught wind of a similar Texas plan, that unbeknownst to Walker, is failing. Let's face it, he's not a deep thinker and he always runs from problem solving. Texas legislators are now trying to fix sky rocketing tuition's. See if any of this sounds familiar:

Some Texas lawmakers want to reclaim the right to set college tuition rates. The legislature had given that authority to the schools in 2003. But now, higher tuition costs are making college unaffordable for a section of Texas students and that is one of the reasons some lawmakers are rethinking that decision. Twelve years ago, state lawmakers began allowing public universities to set their own tuition rates so they could cover a funding gap caused by the legislature’s cuts to the higher education budget in 2003 and the years that followed.

Much like Walker's $300 million cut? So here's what happened...

Since then, tuition rates in Texas have skyrocketed by an average 107 percent, and that jump has prompted a bipartisan effort in the Senate to let the legislature once again control tuition.

What is obvious to everyone but Walker is that tuition is going to climb fast. In fact, it'll be my sons first year at the UW...bad timing folks.

If anything, Democrats had better start promising to reverse the damage Walker and his Republican pirates are doing. And where is the outrage from parents across the state. What in gods name has to happen before we realize we're losing everything for some idiotic policy wrapped in the words liberty and freedom.

Here's the WISC look at Walker's destructive proposal, which by the way, corporate UW higher ups kinda like:



NOTE: This downward slide into idiocracy and the GOP attack on education is across the board. Our own Paul Ryan has the following plan, on top of Walker's possible tuition increases:

For Pell Grants the Paul Ryan budget would cut $200 billion from this program. This would affect middle and lower class citizens is a huge way. The Pell Grant is the only way some poor families could pay for college. With cuts to the Pell Grant, many lower class people who would like to get to college couldn't afford the tuition. Following last year’s budget standoffs, next year’s maximum Pell grant of $5,645 will cover just one-third of the average cost of college — the smallest share ever.

Walker fast tracks unaffordable UW colleges, blocking upward mobility of middle class in state.

Again, missing in action, the immediate Democratic response to another outrageous cut to the UW, this time to the tune of $300 million. Pathetic.

The reason we fund public education is to spread the cost to each and every citizen, so families with children don’t end up paying the full amount themselves, and everyone in society benefits. Well, not anymore. And at a time when college is a basic necessity, pricing the lower and middle class out of education is mind boggling. This idea only sets up another huge problem for future generations to deal with. 

Scott Walker is looking to “renege” on public funding so he can pass a few more of those "on his way to the White House" tax cuts. Remember the word “renege?” The only reason Walker wrongly accused the federal government of reneging on Medicaid payments is because he actually planned to do that himself, for real. It’s called projection. 

And Walker's purely political election year tuition tax freezes?  That savings will disappear fast. It'll be a nice way for families to spend their GOP tax cuts. 

And with Republicans in charge of congress, the interest on student loans will go through the roof too, a “free market” giveaway to the banks. It's a perfect storm. This isn't the first time Walker tried to trash education, along with the constitution:   

jsonline-Jason Stein: A portion of a law giving Gov. Scott Walker veto powers over rules written by the state schools superintendent was struck down ... Circuit Judge Amy Smith ruled that the law violated the state constitution by giving Walker that power over the state Department of Public Instruction. 

It's no surprise that the loss of the UW's large cash reserves, the focus the legislatures phony outrage during the last budget, is now coming back to haunt us, big time. jsonline:

UWM Chancellor Mark Mone on Friday told faculty of the College of Letters & Science that the … large cuts … would be more painful than previous trims because "we don't have the (cash) reserves we had then, and we don't have the flexibility because of tuition freezes going forward at least two years."

It now appears the enemy of public education, Sen. Steve Nass, is sounding sane in this stunning press release:

Even Rep. Robin Vos seemed a little surprised:

“As a former regent, I have concerns about a cut of this magnitude without granting flexibilities to the UW System. It appears that a significant amount of flexibility would be necessary in order to manage such a large decrease off the base budget. This is a decision that’s not to be taken lightly.”

Here's what our state constitution lays out for public colleges:

State university; support. SECTION 6. Provision shall be made by law for the establishment of a state university at or near the seat of state government, and for connecting with the same, from time to time, such colleges in different parts of the state as the interests of education may require. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted by the United States to the state for the support of a university shall be and remain a perpetual fund to be called “the university fund,” the interest of which shall be appropriated to the support of the state university, and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such university.

Republican Hypocrites!! Concern over massive Student loan Debt in State, a mismatch for Rate Hike by Congressional Republicans.

Thank you Scott Walker, for freezing student tuition at the UW, and draining the surplus fund for new buildings and academics. That'll teach em. Soon they'll be begging once again for any kind of handout, or at least no funding cuts. Student debt is out of control, making life difficult once they're out in the job market and on the line for monthly payments. Thank god Walker has come to their rescue. From Channel3000:



But on a national level, Republicans don't seem to give a rats-ass about how much students end up pay for their student loans, if they're adding to big bank profits. Rachel Maddow points out how Republicans are unsuited for policy right now: 

EdWeek: Unless lawmakers act by July 1, interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans, available to those demonstrating financial need, will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. The same scenarioplayed out last summer, and students were able to persuade Congress to keep rates low—but just for one year.

The social and economic benefits of a college education no longer shared.

Society once saw the benefits of an educated public as a vital part of their economic survival. That's no  longer the popular view, since society has now shifted the cost of an education to individual families. Our conservative legislators over time have cut college funding dramatically. Hey, times are tough. .  

UW President Kevn Riley explains that not too long ago, the state covered about 2/3 of the cost of a college education. Now, thanks to anti-education Republicans, that number has flipped. Parents now covering that 2/3's cost, which in turn, takes money out of the consumer sector.  Uh oh, no jobs!

The UW used to get 13 to 14 cents of every tax dollar, now they're down to about 6 cents. It wasn't too long ago when the state GOP wanted it to go private. From Upfront with Mike Gousha: