Karen Herzog, and Jason Stein

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

After extending a tuition freeze into a fifth year for resident undergraduates at University of Wisconsin System campuses, Gov. Scott Walker announced Tuesday that he wants to cut tuition by 5% beginning in fall 2018.

He said he would make up for the lost tuition dollars by giving campuses $35 million from taxpayers.

The GOP governor pitched several initiatives for the UW System as part of his 2017-'19 state budget — costing roughly $100 million beyond the $35 million — during a three-campus sweep Tuesday, starting in La Crosse and continuing in Eau Claire and Green Bay. He didn't say where the new money would come from — an issue raising questions from lawmakers of both parties.

Walker also proposed allowing students to opt out of some segregated fees they pay on top of tuition to support things like student organizations, campus tutoring services and bus passes — "allocable" fees student government leaders and chancellors decide how to spend. Students would still have to pay fees that cover long-term commitments or ongoing operating costs of buildings. Student government leaders immediately said they opposed the fee opt-out proposal.

The governor will formally unveil his proposed budget to the Legislature on Wednesday.

A 5% tuition cut the second year of the biennium would save resident undergrads an average $360 a year across campuses, according to the governor. A full-time resident undergrad at UW-Madison currently pays $9,273 in tuition, plus $1,215.12 in fees. Tuition would remain frozen for the 2017-'18 academic year.

Tuition cuts financed with state dollars have surfaced in other states — including Minnesota and Washington — in response to mounting student loan debt and a trend of states spending less on public higher education than before the Great Recession. Only Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming have increased spending since 2008, according to a recent report by the District of Columbia-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Ahead of a potential re-election bid in 2018, the governor is shifting from previously backing cuts to UW System and K-12 schools aid to increasing funding for both. A tuition cut could prove popular with voters. But lawmakers have expressed skepticism over how the governor would pay for the substantial increases, with Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) showing little enthusiasm for a tuition cut.

"I didn't see a lot of excitement for the tuition cut" among GOP senators, Fitzgerald said Monday.

The last biennial budget request from the UW System sought $95.2 million in new state funding. In the end, the UW System was handed a $250 million biennial budget cut.

That cut, combined with a continued tuition freeze, led campuses to lay off employees, freeze vacant positions, consolidate administrative functions, cut back on academic advising and offer fewer course sections. State funding to the UW System has been cut a total of $362 million from fiscal 2012 to 2017, according to UW System officials.

Walker this time is backing a UW System request for $42.5 million in new funding.

Performance-based funding

But the governor wants to require the $42.5 million be distributed among campuses based on performance: How many of their students graduate, how long it takes them to finish their degrees, how many obtain jobs after graduation, and how many are working in high-demand fields throughout the state.

Each campus would be required to publish a "Performance Funding Report Card" that details performance in "improving affordability and attainability, enhancing work readiness, ensuring student success in the workforce, administrative efficiency, service, and two additional criteria to be specified by the Board of Regents."

Walker backed the UW System's request for more money for employee compensation, adding $11.6 million for that purpose to be used at the UW's discretion — substantially less than the $78 million UW requested. He also provided $50 million that the state included in the UW's allotment in the current budget but did not allow universities to spend.

Two more of the governor's proposals are sure to draw controversy:

Requiring the Board of Regents to establish a policy for monitoring faculty and instructional academic staff teaching workloads. They would have to report the number of hours they spend teaching, and the regents would also have to develop a plan to reward those "who go above and beyond by teaching more than the standard academic load." Teaching workloads would be made public and be included in annual accountability reports. This is a continuation of a GOP push during the last biennial budget to tighten tenure job protections for faculty.

Requiring students pursuing a degree from a UW campus to have an internship or hands-on work experience before they can graduate. The idea is to bridge the gap between college and the workforce.

Beyond the tuition cut, Walker offered another proposal to help hold down the cost of college: require UW System campuses to offer three-year bachelor's degree options. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates that completing a degree in three years could reduce the net cost of college by $18,000 to $25,000 by reducing tuition costs and increasing earnings.

Walker and GOP lawmakers have focused on reducing the cost of a college degree, while Democrats have proposed addressing student loan debt held by state residents who've already graduated.

Sen. Dave Hansen and Rep. Cory Mason — Democrats from Green Bay and Racine, respectively — on Tuesday reintroduced a bill that proposes creating a state authority to help borrowers refinance student loans at lower interests rates, extend an existing state tax deduction to include student loan payments, and provide additional information and loan counseling to borrowers.

RELATED: Walker's budget would shift Wisconsin's approach to school funding

RELATED: UW-Madison proposes free tuition for first-generation transfer students

Mixed reaction

Reaction to the governor's proposed budget for the UW System was mixed, with UW chancellors and UW System officials saying they appreciated the reinvestment but were looking at the whole proposal to determine its impact on campuses.

Student leaders of UW System campuses issued a joint statement strongly opposing the proposal to allow students to opt out of paying some segregated fees.

"Allowing an opt-out helps students make the decisions on what they do and do not want to fund,” Walker said.

But students benefit "from services provided by these reasonable fees," the UW System Student Representatives statement said, adding: "Allowing individual students to opt out of paying would destabilize the funding of these services and create an administrative burden to ensure only fee-paying students could access the services those fees support."

Walker offered additional initiatives aimed at helping working adults complete college degrees, helping students more seamlessly transfer from state technical colleges to UW System institutions, and boosting research in two programs at UW-Madison: