Private/Public dorms? Which are you choosing?

Colleges & Universities University of Wisconsin
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<p>While in the higher portion of the range Wisconsin is far from the highest tax state in the US. Once it was close and most Wisconsin residents still believe that is true and some less honest politicians continue to use that as a wedge issue in state politics.</p>

<p>As usual, the UW has studied this issue of wealth and access to UW. Theyu just publisged a working paper 3/09!) that addresses this issue. The facts are that OOS students have family incomes nearly twice as high as instate so there is a real and significant income gap–even between Wisconsin and Minnesota kids attending UW. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/publications/workingpapers/wolfe2009-005.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/publications/workingpapers/wolfe2009-005.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As to the tuition multiplier for instate vs OOS–I think the ratio is very much inline with other desirable state flagships. The ratio at UM, UVA and other Big 10 schools is also around 2- 3:1 and nearly all the schools have a higher instate tuition than UW and higher OOS. The only exception is UMinn which just lowered it’s OOS in a calculated attempt to boost OOS applications and enrollment to improve their national profile.</p>

<p><a href=“http://apa.wisc.edu/images/tables/BigTentuition.pdf[/url]”>http://apa.wisc.edu/images/tables/BigTentuition.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And some people have a problem with people who care about people who care about the superficial trappings of wealth and make the unsubstantiated conclusion that having a nice car means you don’t also care about “more important factors”. I’m sure Wis75 does not stay in Super 8 motels anymore and has said she drives a Lexus. Why not a Honda–it’s just as reliable? I have always thought there is little point in having money if you do not enjoy spending it on things you enjoy. That could be a car or better clothes, better vacations or a nicer dorm that YOU get to choose rather than rely on some random lottery. That does not mean they do it to avoid being thrown in with the locals. They just don’t like being treated as second class citizens when they are helping pay the freight for those getting priority access to the dorms on campus.</p>