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Wisconsin’s public universities face the third-largest budget cuts in the country this year, according to an annual survey of higher-education funding.

But a University of Wisconsin spokesman said Tuesday that the UW System's budget staff spotted an error in the report, and that the figures in the survey overestimate cuts here. According to UW, Wisconsin's public universities face the 11th-largest budget cuts in the country. If additional cuts come through in the next month, as proposed, the public university system would face the fourth-largest cut in the country.

Public funding for the state’s universities dropped 20.9% from $1.46 billion to $1.15 billion, according to the annual Grapevine study, conducted by Illinois State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education and the State Higher Education Executive Officers.

UW says public funding actually dropped 13.3%, not 20.9%, from $1.33 billion to $1.15 billion. That analysis does not account for a proposed $46.1 million in additional cuts the UW System may face because of a budget lapse.

If the $46.1 million in cuts goses through, as suggested in October by the Department of Administration, that would increase the state's funding drop by about 3.4%, to 16.7% for the year, said UW spokesman David Giroux. The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee is poised to debate the $46.1 million budget lapse cut.

"In any case, the report's overall message remains clear: states are struggling to uphold their commitment to higher education, and Wisconsin's challenges are more significant than most," Giroux said. "This trend is at odds with Wisconsin's growing need for more college-educated workers."

State Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chairman of the Joint Finance committee, said the federal government is at fault for large cuts to the UW System and other state agencies because of a mandate requiring states to avoid cuts in Medicaid. That made cuts to other state agencies worse, he said.

Nationally, higher education budgets were trimmed 7.6%, according to the Grapevine study. New Hampshire had the largest cut, with a funding reduction of 41.3%. Arizona’s cut ranked second at 25.1%, and Louisiana ranked third at 18.5%.

The Grapevine figures include the $250 million budget cut for the UW System over two years that was part of the state budget approved last year. It does not include the additional $46.1 million the state plans to seek as a refund from the UW System to help make up for the budget lapse.

Part of the reduction in the Wisconsin and national figures comes because of the expiration of federal stimulus funding that helped the nation’s universities last year.

Forty-one states saw some kind of drop in their higher education funding this year. A third of states had reductions of 10% or more. An analysis by the trade publication Inside Higher Ed notes that Wisconsin is one of 29 states that’s providing less money to public higher education in the 2011-12 budget year than they did in 2006-07.

Grapevine has published data on state support of higher education since 1960.The organization collects state funding information for universities, colleges, community colleges and administrative funding for higher education.

Vos said he hopes state agencies can avoid the additional cuts proposed by the Department of Administration. If state revenue is looking better in figures that will be reported to the Legislature in mid-February, cuts to the UW System and other state agencies won't have to be as steep, Vos said.

Vos said state support for the UW System remains a priority. "I believe that ... we have to figure out a way to have stable funding for the UW System in the long run," Vos said. He said the source of more stable funding doesn't necessarily have to be tax money.

Vos said that can be done by providing the universities with more efficient technology, encouraging students to get degrees in fields that produce immediate employment and bringing employees into the UW System who work efficiently.

"My last resort would be to increase tuition, even though I think it's a bargain in Wisconsin," Vos said.