A new proposal aims to keep more UW System grads in Wisconsin, but it’s going about it backwards.

The plan, according to the Associated Press, would allow students free tuition to a four-year campus if they agreed to stay in the state for 10 years after graduation. If a student under the plan decided to move out of the state, he or she would have to pay back the tuition.

Such a proposal has numerous hurdles and unpredictable outcomes that need to be considered before the plan goes anywhere.

Financially, this plan doesn’t seem practical. What if so many students signed up that there was no money to fund the System? What if the graduates didn’t get high-paying jobs after college?

Other details also need to be taken into account, like students who don’t graduate in four years or those who get reciprocity from Minnesota.

The plan could have numerous consequences. It could deter students from pursuing certain majors out of fear that they couldn’t get jobs in the state. And it seems to run in contrast to the System’s goals of attracting a wider array of students and increasing diversity.

It’s a lot to ask of seniors in high school to make a commitment they will have to honor for the next 10 years. Some students start college with no clue what to major in, and others change majors, or even schools, halfway through.

The program won’t work unless there are jobs available for the students when they graduate. The state needs to help create more jobs before enticing students to stay in the state and take them.

That being said, a free tuition program would greatly help lower-income students gain access to college, which will improve the state’s labor force in the long run. If the state is willing to take dramatic action and borrow money, maybe they should focus that money on low-income students.

Anything including the words “free tuition” sounds like a good idea at first. But without more planning, this program would have unpredictable costs.