Campus Connection

Governor signs college affordability legislation on campus

Gov. Scott Walker came to campus on Monday to sign a bill into law related to college affordability. The bill requires the Department of Workforce Development to provide student internship coordination. This is not the first time a governor has signed a bill at UW-La Crosse. It’s happened at least one other time when former Gov. Tommy Thompson came to UWL in 1989 to sign two bills. One allowed the Board of Regents to defer out-of-state tuition for graduate assistants to come to Wisconsin. The other set aside $100 million to allow Wisconsin parents to buy tax-free bonds for their children’s education, according to the UWL Alumnus. The bill Walker signed on Monday provides two full-time employee positions to the Department of Workforce Development to coordinate internships with higher education and businesses. It is part of the governor’s college affordability package that he unveiled during a visit to UWL in January. The package originally included five proposals focused on making higher education more affordable and the cost more transparent. The Senate did not take up a key portion of the package that would have lifted the cap on tax-deductible student loan interest. He signed other key portions of the package at various locations across the state. The bills in the affordability package will:

• Increase grants for technical college students.
• Create grants to help UW System college and technical college students deal with financial emergencies.
• Fund new internship coordinator positions within the UW System and the State Department of Workforce Development.
• Require that higher education institutions keep students informed of the debt they are taking on.