Thanks to the deep recession and anemic recovery, there has been unprecedented demand for classes in the state’s technical colleges. Record numbers of young people recently out of high school and older displaced or underemployed workers are looking to Wisconsin’s technical college system as their best option for getting education and training that will qualify them for well-paid jobs.

Businesses have also shown keen interest in the technical education system, as they grapple with a mismatch between the types of skills they are looking for in employees and the qualifications of Wisconsin’s jobless workers.

Although the result has been record or near record enrollment, a number of Wisconsin’s technical colleges have had to reduce classes or local services. Most of the 16 colleges continue to invest in new services and courses most critically in demand, but they can only do so by raising tuition or by cutting other offerings.Of the three main funding sources supporting technical colleges, the 2011-13 state budget bill significantly cut one and strictly limited another. General state aid was cut 30%, by about $36 million annually. The state also imposed a strict freeze on local property tax levies. Technical college boards are now prohibited from increasing local property tax support above the 2010 amount or tax rate unless approved by referendum.

This leaves student tuition and fees as the sole major funding source to meet growing demand. Tuition is paid by students who – as both parents and dependents – often face tough choices in using limited family resources toward starting or continuing college.

Across most colleges, program and course access is affected as wait lists grow or courses are closed. This affects families when parents are delayed or prevented from moving rapidly through programs to high-wage jobs. It also affects older children directly when technical college access is limited for new high school graduates.

Families can feel the loss of services in other ways. For example, La Crosse-area Western Technical College is the most recent of several to close a campus childcare facility due to budget constraints. Finally, difficulty gaining access to programs in health occupations, police and fire service, and child care can eventually have a negative impact on families if there are not enough highly trained individuals graduating to meet community needs.

Among the few state budget successes for technical college students, need-based financial aid funding was preserved at prior levels and was not cut. Nevertheless, demonstrated need is growing fast and technical college students still face the state’s largest higher education “need gap;” the shortfall between college cost and available student resources including aid.

In the coming months, voters can ask candidates about their position on restoring technical college state funding and local flexibility, and on funding need-based student financial aid.

Paul Gabriel

Paul Gabriel is Executive Director of the Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association. The opinions expressed in this post are his own.
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Note from WCCF:  This is one in a series of blog posts providing perspectives on some of the state policy changes and fiscal decisions made during the past legislative session, and the impact they are having on Wisconsin’s children and families. We hope the public will consider these impacts and will urge candidates to talk more about these issues as elections approach. The views expressed in each post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of WCCF or the opinions of authors of any of the other posts.