Higher education is no longer accessible.

Representatives of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Association (SA) and the United Council of UW Students called on the state Joint Finance Committee to enforce a tuition freeze as part of the 2008-09 state budget.

Those students, who were from UW-Milwaukee and UW-Waukesha, told the committee members March 20 that tuition over the last few years has risen about five times the rate of inflation.

Higher education is no longer accessible, said Carlo Albano, a UWM student.

Albano said graduates of the UW System were now going into the workforce with the highest debt burden in history, around $20,000 each.

Albano and other members who spoke before the committee said it was time to reinvest in higher education.

The UW System Board of Regents plan calls for a one percent tuition increase for the 2007-08 school year. Tuition at UWM was $6,630.20 for the 2006-07 school year. However, Gov. Jim Doyle has yet to issue any budget plans for 2007-08 tuition.

Also at the meeting, Milwaukee County and city leaders, along with members of the public, presented testimony about other aspects of the proposed budget.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said that Milwaukee is the most culturally and economically diverse city in Wisconsin. He touched on shared revenue, school choice and public safety, among other issues.

He stressed to the committee, which is composed of both state representatives and state senators that we have to hold the line on property taxes for paying for public transit.

There needs to be a greater emphasis on multi-modal commuter systems in southeastern Wisconsin, Barrett said.

He also said school choice provided for an unfair burden on property taxpayers.

But not all comments at the meeting were negative. Citizens commended Doyle and asked the Joint Finance Committee to keep the $1.25 cigarette tax hike proposed in Doyles state budget.

Members from several organizations ranging from Smoke Free Milwaukee to the Oak Creek Teens Against Tobacco Use testified before members of the committee and said that not only is the tax necessary, but that the money garnered from the tax should be spent on several different proposals.

Most groups called for the money to be used on tobacco education while others said it should be used to help ease the burden of health care coverage for victims of secondhand smoke. Yet others said there should be better treatment programs funded with the money.

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