By Chancellor Bernie Patterson
College affordability is on the minds of most students and their parents. We too are keenly aware of the cost of college. Of particular concern are recent reports that state support in Wisconsin, when adjusted for inflation, is the lowest per student since the UW System was formed in 1974.
Have college costs gone up? Indeed, they have. State support, which once covered 50 percent of the cost of education at UW-Stevens Point, now pays only 13 percent. As state support declined, the costs borne by students and their families rose. Clearly, this shift in cost sharing from the state to the student has been a burden on many. Declining state funding is the single biggest driver of rising costs for public colleges.
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