Bascom Hall on the UW-Madison campus in Madison. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, cuts to academic advising, potentially increasing how long it takes to finish a degree, loss of student jobs on campus, inability to grow high-demand programs and outdated academic facilities not being maintained.

Only time will tell whether a $250 million biennial state funding cut to the University of Wisconsin System will result in the leaner, more efficient campuses that Republican lawmakers envision or an erosion of the quality education the campuses provide to roughly 180,000 students that critics of the cuts fear. There likely will be some of both.

The UW System on Monday evening released to state lawmakers and the news media one-page summaries of how the cuts are being implemented on each of the 13 four-year campuses, plus UW Colleges and UW Extension. The documents collectively provide the first big-picture look at how state funding cuts have affected higher education in Wisconsin's public universities, while most other states have increased funding for higher education.

Each campus took a different percentage cut, based on a decades-old funding formula modified during the 2015-'17 budget to help campuses least able to absorb the cuts. Each campus also handled and summarized the cuts differently, so the one-page reports weren't all apples-to-apples for comparison purposes.

Campuses consistently cut administrative costs. UW-Milwaukee, for example, is eliminating 25% of its vice chancellor/associate vice chancellor positions and reducing other administrative positions by 10%.

Asked about Gov. Scott Walker's reaction to how campuses handled the cuts, spokeswoman Laurel Patrick responded that the UW System's total annual operating budget this year was the largest in state history.

"In fact, the UW System recently passed a budget that spent nearly $100 million more than it did last year," Patrick said. "With a budget that spends that much, the UW should be able to fund its priorities."

Looking strictly at how the budget cuts could affect students, several common themes emerged.

■Increased class sizes and fewer courses and course sections:More than half of the four-year campuses — UW-Eau Claire, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point — mentioned they increased class sizes or reduced class offerings because they lost faculty to early retirement, job offers from other universities and, in some cases, buyouts. The campuses then either froze or eliminated most vacant positions.

At UW-Madison, all general fund hiring was frozen this year in the largest college, Letters & Science. The college ultimately will cut 48 faculty and 44 staff positions. With these losses, departments are reducing the number of courses offered, increasing class sizes or substituting staff for faculty instructors.

At UWM, officials report that larger class sizes and reductions in faculty could threaten the accreditation of four of its schools: Lubar School of Business, Peck School of the Arts, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare and School of Education.

"The provost is working with the schools and accrediting bodies to take steps necessary to ensure that accreditation is not jeopardized," Robin Van Harpen, UWM's vice chancellor for finance and administrative affairs, told the Journal Sentinel. "However, this is a challenge now as a result of the cuts and need to continue to decrease staffing across UWM."

This spring, UW-Eau Claire offered 197 fewer class sections — a 12% drop — compared to spring 2015. The campus also increased average class size by 14%. That was after the campus cut 15% of its workforce — 179 full-time equivalency positions. A third of those positions directly affect student instruction.

UW-Whitewater said it offered 42 fewer courses and 118 fewer course sections last fall than the previous fall.

UW Colleges did not reduce faculty or course offerings due to the cut. Instead, UW Colleges consolidated and regionalized the administrative structure. It reduced its non-instructional workforce by 22%, creating a 533:1 student to academic adviser ratio.

■Eight campuses, in addition to UW Colleges, said fewer academic advisers could mean more students taking longer to complete a degree:

UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point all mentioned concerns about cutbacks in academic advising.

UW-Madison's College of Engineering halted a planned expansion of advisers. The college has 17 advisers to serve 6,600 students — at least five advisers below the minimum needed to serve students effectively, according to UW-Madison's budget cut summary.

UW-Stevens Point eliminated three positions in Academic Advising and Career Services, reducing capacity for both academic and career advising.

■Fewer student jobs on campuses:UW-Madison reports it has drastically reduced student employment positions across campus. Human Resources cut more than 6,500 hours of student employment, while Research and Sponsored Programs cut about 6,300 hours of student employment.

UW-Green Bay's report mentioned loss of student employment opportunities, but did not provide details.

■Less support for IT: UW-La Crosse reported significant reductions to its operating budget for information technology services. "

UW-Madison reported its Division of Information Technology reduced its array of services to students in 2015-'16. Labs are updated less frequently as a result of computer lab support reductions. Students now must pay for services elsewhere because a digital media lab closed. Also, early-morning and late-night help desk hours for students were reduced.

■Inability to expand enrollments in areas of increased demand: UW-Madison reported it hasn't been able to expand enrollment in business, engineering and nursing because of budget cuts — programs that are high-demand and high-value.

UWM reported it is less able to meet its region's workforce and talent development needs as well as research needs of industry because it cannot address capacity needs in nursing, engineering and business.

■Lack of state funding for facilities repair and maintenance: Campuses say it could mean having to redirect money away from education. Or, the buildings will not be maintained.

UWM has two failing buildings: Chemistry and Engineering. It also has underutilized and inaccessible buildings. For example, UWM can use only 340,000 of the 880,000 square feet available in the former Columbia St. Mary's Hospital complex purchased in 2010 because it hasn't received state funding to renovate it and bring it up to safety codes.

UW-Platteville reported the 2015-'17 biennial budget provided no meaningful funding for repair and maintenance. Faculty are attempting to teach industry standard biology in a 1977 facility that's unchanged except for a campus-funded project in 2010. And faculty are trying to teach cutting-edge mechanical and civil engineering in a 1966 facility, the university reported.