Letter from Chancellor Martin to Campus Community
April 17, 2009 Dear members of the UW-Madison community, On March 24, I presented to you the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, a proposal to invest in the quality, value and affordability of undergraduate education at UW-Madison. The goals of the plan are to add faculty and instructional support so we can offer the courses, majors and educational experiences students need; to improve and enhance critical student services; and to preserve the affordability of a UW-Madison education.
At stake is the quality of the institution. It is our responsibility, in the face of the pressures on our state’s budget, to build stronger relationships with the state, to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible, and to help ourselves by forming new partnerships among alumni/donors and students and their families. This initiative is a first major investment in the needs we have identified in undergraduate education. We are committed to pursuing additional investments in every area from alumni and friends. In March, I invited your questions and feedback on the proposal, which calls for a new partnership between students and alumni. My staff, the provost’s office, the deans and I have made every effort to engage you so that we could respond to questions, solicit your ideas and listen to your concerns. You took us up on the offer, and we have participated in more than 130 meetings of student groups, academic-planning councils and governance organizations. We have hosted several forums, together with the Associated Students of Madison (ASM) and with academic units. We have posted a growing FAQ section at and, as a team, we have responded to students, faculty and staff, parents, prospective students, legislators, and members of the community and the state. I have been impressed by the thoughtfulness of your questions and the creativity of your ideas, and I thank you for your involvement.
Many of you have offered your support for the proposal, and some have even asked whether we are doing enough, given the university’s needs. We believe we are doing what is reasonable in this environment. Others have asked for more detail about how the money could be used to alleviate course bottlenecks, grow capacity in high-demand courses and majors, spur educational innovation and enhance student services. Several lists outlining possible hires, services and improvements have been posted in a new PowerPoint presentation.
You’ll notice, in reviewing these lists, that our needs far outweigh the monies we’ll raise through the initiative. Should the initiative be approved, we will have serious decisions to make about where to allocate resources. Some students, particularly from engineering, have suggested that we focus the resources that we will have for additional courses in areas that attract students from more than one college. We agree that courses that benefit students from more than one school or college should have priority.
A number of you have suggested that we add advisory and oversight components to the proposal. We agree, and we have responded to the call for a shared governance committee. I will establish a committee that is composed of faculty, staff and student representatives charged with ensuring transparency and accountability in decision-making. In addition, ASM has proposed a student-only subcommittee, which would focus its attention on student services, broadly conceived, and work in tandem with the larger shared-governance committee.
Finally, many of you have asked about the financial aid component of the plan, how we came to the number we did on the hold-harmless provision, and what the benefits of increased need-based aid will be. Let me emphasize again that our ability to attract the best students, regardless of their ability to pay, is essential to our long-term quality. Currently, UW-Madison students have more than $20 million in demonstrated financial need each year that we cannot meet. Our goal is to grow our financial resources, both through tuition and private fundraising, to help meet that need.
We will incorporate into our proposal a peer-mentoring program that will help us engage communities all over Wisconsin, informing prospective students and families more effectively about financial aid, and helping them with the process. Because there has been some confusion about the relationship between our overall need-based financial aid program and the hold-harmless provision of this particular initiative, I encourage you to consult the FAQs on our Web site for more information and clarity.
Some have asked about our reasons for using tuition to cover need-based financial aid. The use of tuition dollars to cover the cost of need-based financial aid is standard practice in higher education. In addition, the cost of educating a student exceeds what any student pays for his or her education, regardless of whether that student is a Wisconsin resident or from out of state. Every student at the university is being subsidized by funds from other sources. Finally, the value of a UW-Madison degree over time makes the cost of tuition an extraordinarily wise investment, and accessibility to higher education is everyone’s issue.
I am committed to ensuring the quality and affordability of a UW-Madison education and the long-term value of the degree. The feedback you have provided demonstrates that you are equally committed. I appreciate your requests for detail, your suggestions about how we could clarify the various components of the proposal, and your recommendations for additional elements. I hope, in answering your questions, being available for discussion and incorporating key recommendations, I have been able to demonstrate my commitment to ensuring that your voices are part of the proposal and its implementation.
We will send the final draft of the proposal to UW System administration on April 23 and expect a decision by the Board of Regents in May. Thank you for your involvement and support.
Sincerely,
Biddy Martin
Chancellor