By Kevin P. Reilly, President, University of Wisconsin System

No state will succeed in the 21st century without using its public university as an economic engine in the knowledge economy. This is especially true in Wisconsin.

The state needs the University of Wisconsin System to increase the number of college graduates it produces, to help create high-paying jobs that will keep our graduates in Wisconsin, and to attract other degree holders from out of state to build their careers here.

The evidence is clear: States that have higher proportions of college graduates in their populations have higher per capita incomes, generate more public revenue without raising taxes, and are home to a better quality of life. In Wisconsin, the UW System is eager to educate more students and to increase the number of citizens with college degrees, which can help to add more tax revenue to the state treasury. Unfortunately, states that do not use their public universities as this kind of galvanizing force will be the backwaters of the 21st century.

Over the past two biennia, however, state support for the University of Wisconsin System has dropped precipitously. The university has suffered more than $300 million in cuts since 2002, and the Governor's proposed budget for 2005-07 would direct the UW to reallocate and trim another $65 million. And, as the Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance prepares to act on the UW System budget in the next few days, there are indications that it may demand millions more in cuts. The committee may also place a cap on tuition, which would mean less resources to serve students in the classroom and on our campuses. This trend cannot continue without serious consequences for our students and families, our campuses, and our communities.

All Wisconsin citizens benefit from the education and services the UW System provides, and now is the time for residents in every Wisconsin community to stand up for the state's future. If these cuts are allowed to mount with no end in sight, the university will struggle to continue to educate Wisconsin students, and will be greatly challenged to meet the state's needs for economic growth in the most efficient and effective way possible.

The university has already done more than its fair share to help the state close its budget shortfall, the effects of which have hurt our students and will hurt the state's long-term prosperity. Through adept management and plain corner-cutting, the UW System has eliminated more than 450 jobs in this biennium alone, and will be cutting more than 200 academic and student services jobs in the next biennium. In addition, we have enrolled nearly 10,000 more students than a decade ago, while at the same time doing this with 670 fewer faculty to teach and advise them.

While Wisconsin lawmakers continue to reduce the progress we can make by cutting budgets for higher education, we are being eclipsed by nearby states. For example, the Minnesota legislature just proposed increasing support for public higher education by 8 percent for its community college system, and nearly 12 percent for the University of Minnesota.

Moreover, Wisconsin's higher education "support," as measured by per capita public spending, has declined faster than the U.S. average and more sharply than in all but one of the eight Big Ten Conference states, reducing its higher education effort by almost 50 percent since 1978. This decline in public support is chipping away at a public higher education infrastructure that was built over generations. I believe, and I think my fellow citizens would agree, that Wisconsin's kids and grandkids deserve a stronger investment.

During my presidency, the university will strive to continue to lower its cost of doing business, and will ramp up its productivity. But without the state's re-investment in the UW System to keep our doors open to even more students and to keep our resources at play in developing new businesses and rejuvenating our staple industries, Wisconsin will not be able to compete in this century's "brain gain" race.

The downward spiral — of slipping further and further behind other states, such as Illinois and Minnesota, in average annual income — has already begun and is accelerating every day. But this can be reversed. As the Joint Committee on Finance prepares to vote on the UW System's budget, I am asking them to look past the fray and see the UW System for what it really is — the best insurance that our kids and grandkids will be able to live and work in a Wisconsin with an expanding 21st century economy that will employ their talent, skills, and ingenuity to the fullest.

Wisconsin citizens: If you share this vision, and fear what will happen to Wisconsin if we cannot use the UW System to achieve it, now is the time to contact your State Representative, Senator, and the Governor's office. There's still time to urge them not to cut the university any further. Instead, ask them to re-invest in the UW System as the state's strongest partner for a prosperous future.