Candidates for the 93rd Assembly District spoke to students Monday night, again clashing over ways to keep tuition down.

State Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, discussed his intentions to institute tuition caps, restructure UW System-wide budget allocations and reform the Board of Regents.

“I think it’s important to stem the tide (in tuition increases) we’ve seen,” he said.
Kreibich and fellow Rep. Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls, were on campus Monday to host a listening session from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Alumni Room of Davies Center.

Kreibich’s democratic challenger Jeff Smith told Student Senate Monday he will push the state Legislature to invest more fully in education and health care.

“The university system is the most valuable tool we have,” he said. “We need our state to support it.”

Students were pleased to see both candidates on campus.

“Some of (Kreibich’s) ideas on tuition are interesting,” senior Bill Verthein, said, adding, however, that he thought Kreibich’s ideas would eventually hurt students.

Assistant professor of chemistry Alan Gengenbach said he wishes representatives would show more real interest in university issues.

“I wish (representatives) would be here a little more often,” he said.

Kreibich said he has plans to again propose a 3 percent tuition cap in the next budget, in effect “forcing the hand” of the Republican-controlled Legislature to boost funding.

“A three percent cap would provide some predictability and stability for UW students,” he said.

Kreibich said he would also like to see a bill passed requiring each congressional district in the state to have a member on the Board of Regents. Currently, board membership is concentrated around Milwaukee and Madison, he said.

In addition, Kreibich said the UW System budget needs to be restructured, saying that in the 2003-2005 biennium a disproportionate amount of funding went to UW-Madison.

“We have to know that an increase in funding will go to our respective campuses,” he said.
Ideally, Kreibich said, an elected body should be setting tuition.

Kreibich’s plan to cap tuition, Smith said, would be good if it came with a guarantee that the state Legislature would fund the System fully enough to prevent a decline in the quality of education.

“(The cap) just sounds good,” he said. “I would love to lower tuition.”

Smith said while he wouldn’t necessarily oppose changes to the board, he thinks it needs to remain intact as an effective buffer between state cuts in aid and the cost of education to students.

“We can change the way it is selected,” Smith said. “But we need them.”