Wisconsin Higher Education Leaders Blast Student Aid Cuts in ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
Bill, pending Senate approval, would make it harder for students to get student aid, attend technical college part time.
UW-Madison students walk on campus Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Leaders of Wisconsin colleges and universities are speaking out against pending cuts to federal financial aid after they cleared a major legislative hurdle.
Almost all Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a massive budget reconciliation bill, which will help finance tax cut extensions.
The legislation still needs approval from the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate. During a news conference Thursday, leaders with the Universities of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Technical College System and Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities urged lawmakers to reverse course.
The proposal would slash education-related spending by more than $300 billion, and it would overhaul federal student loan and grant programs.
That includes setting new caps on federally backed student loans.
The changes would also repeal several student loan repayment programs, including the President Joe Biden-era program known as SAVE, and move those borrowers into what would be known as the Repayment Assistance Plan.
That could result in higher payments for many borrowers, according to an advocacy group known as the Student Borrower Protection Center. In a statement, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, called Thursday’s vote a step toward cutting waste.
“It’s time we stopped asking taxpayers to foot the bill for our broken student loan system that has left borrowers in trillions of dollars of debt and has caused college costs to balloon,” the statement said.
But Universities of Wisconsin system President Jay Rothman said the changes would make it harder for Wisconsinites to get the degrees needed to fill in-demand roles.
“It simply makes no sense, no sense for the United States right now to narrow educational opportunities if our country is going to have an opportunity to win the global war for talent,” Rothman said at a news conference Thursday. “I am dumbfounded that cutting educational opportunities would even be considered when our economic vibrancy as a nation is at stake.”
The changes would also increase requirements for low-income students who get Pell Grants by requiring students to have at least “half-time” enrollment in order to receive the grants. Additionally, the threshold for people who receive a maximum Pell Grant available to “full-time” students would increase from 12 to 15 credit hours a semester.
Those new restrictions are likely to hurt students from working-class backgrounds, said Mark Thomas, chief strategy officer at Madison College, a public technical college.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that many community college students, including the ones here at Madison College, are already working one or two low-wage jobs,” Thomas said. “That’s why they’re trying to increase their educational attainment so that they can serve in the workforce with the skills our local businesses need, earning family-supporting wages.”
That was a sentiment echoed by Jose Villarreal, a Madison College student and Pell Grant recipient.
Villarreal said the proposed changes could stop thousands of Wisconsinites like him from being able to afford higher education. “It’s not as simple as signing up for one more class,” Villarreal said during the news conference. “I’m already taking as many credits as I can while working, being present [as a] father to my young daughter and managing responsibilities outside of the classroom.”
Villarreal said raising the credit requirements needed to receive Pell Grants won’t speed up his education.
“It would slow it down,” he said. “It would force me to choose between work and school.”
Wisconsin higher education leaders speak out after House advances cuts to federal student aid was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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