Contact: Bryan Kennedy – (414) 517-3864
(Milwaukee) – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Flynn today made the following statement regarding Walker’s plan to freeze tuition for students in the University of Wisconsin System.
“Election Year Walker strikes again,” Flynn said. “When he is running for re-election, Walker pretends to care about families struggling to get their kids through school. Walker makes promises during elections and forgets them as soon as he counts the votes. Education funding is only ever a priority when an election is around the corner.”
In his first budget, Walker raised tuition at UW System schools by 5.5% while also making hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts. Even while freezing tuition, Walker also froze financial aid opportunities, forcing students to borrow more and more. Walker has also severely threatened the quality of education in the UW System by trying to change the mission statement, eliminating statutory tenure, and attacking professors and academic freedom.
Flynn continued, “We need a long-term solution to rising tuition in Wisconsin, not just temporary freezes around elections. We need a governor who will continually improve higher education. We need a governor who will reform student loans by permitting refinancing and guaranteeing student loans. We need a governor who will respect the UW System and promote it, not attack it.”
