Wis. veterans may see cut in benefits

Lawmakers have moved to scale back tuition benefits once lauded as some of the nation's most generous to veterans, saying they proved far more popular and costly than expected.

The state Legislature's budget committee voted 16-0 last week to approve changes to the benefits, including eliminating a promise of free graduate school tuition for veterans and setting a limit on how much time they would have to apply.

The changes would take effect if approved by the entire legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle, who will consider them as part of his budget this summer. They would leave the program underfunded by millions of dollars, forcing universities and technical colleges to cover shortfalls by raising tuition or making cuts.

Signed into law by Doyle to much fanfare on Memorial Day 2006, the program guaranteed free tuition to any Wisconsin veteran enrolled at a public university starting this fall.

The benefit was to apply regardless of whether veterans served in combat, how long after their discharge they enrolled and what type of degree they sought. It was restricted to state residents who entered the service in Wisconsin and were honorably discharged.

But the committee voted to eliminate graduate and professional degrees from eligibility and to limit eligibility to veterans who completed their service in the last 10 years.

Supporters said those changes eliminated benefits that were among the nation's best for veterans.

"We were disappointed that the promises made will not continue," said Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Andy Schuster.

Until this year, veterans who enrolled as either undergraduate or graduates students had 50 percent of their tuition waived.

Joe Li, an Air Force veteran earning a masters of business administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said limiting the benefit to undergraduates would hurt veterans like himself who were seeking advanced degrees. He said he would have to reconsider plans to seek another advanced degree.

"If this bill passes, then I'm done," he said. "There's no way I can go back."

Li and the more than 150 veterans like him who enrolled in graduate programs before Jan. 1 would still receive the benefit until they quit or graduate, but future graduate students would be ineligible.

The cuts are designed to make the program more affordable to taxpayers and students who do not receive the veterans' benefits. They were proposed after warnings that the cost of the tuition waiver would go from about $11 million in this two-year budget to $52 million over the next two years.

More than 3,600 veterans enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs during the 2005-2006 school year, the first year the 50 percent discount was available. Enrollment sharply increased in the school year that just ended, although exact figures are unavailable, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

State school adminstrators are worried they will have to make up the shortfall in funding without the state giving its full support to the program.

"It would be a real shame to have to do either of those options," said UW System spokesman Dave Giroux. "It's going to be a tough issue for every one of our campuses to wrestle with over the next several months. There's no easy answer to this one."