Many students know that in the past week there has been much discussion concerning the future of higher education. Among the concerns addressed in Student Senate were the daunting budget cuts set upon not only UW-La Crosse, but the University of Wisconsin System as a whole, creating frightening challenges for not only the universities' student body. This also is a concern for the staff and administration as a whole; this fiscal problem is the greatest difficulty faced by the university system today.

Though colleges have enrolled an increasing amount of students, tuition has steadily increased over the past decade. This has been slowly building until becoming a detrimental part of student's savings and the state's economy. Last week at the Senate Meeting, it was mentioned that in addition to the 5.5 percent increase in student tuition this semester, the university and the university system received bad news.

The UW System learned late on Oct. 14 that all of the colleges, universities, and extension networks may potentially have $46 million lost in state taxpayer support during 2011-2012, and a further $19.6 million next year.

President Kevin P. Reilly co-authored an editorial to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stating that ‘If UW institutions are required to absorb 38 percent of the larger cut, we'll find ourselves staring into a financial abyss amounting to $113 million in new cuts to our campuses."

 When looking at the October 2011 Lapse Amounts by the UW System Institution, UW-La Crosse was ranked with the eighth highest total lapse amount for the 2011-2013 total at $2,708,061 second to UW-Madison ranking first with a total lapse amount at $25,808,935. Of course, to the average student, this can mean only one thing for our future; that the tuition students have to pay will only increase during the semesters ahead.

Indeed, the fiscal problems faced by the University of Wisconsin System and students are not exclusive to our area; President Obama himself has said that he and his administration will address this nation-wide issue of higher-learning and it's financial toll upon the nation's economy, facing praise and criticism across the political spectrum for bringing up the issue.

According to the New York Times in an article written by Tamar Lewin on Oct. 25 within the next year the President would, "Use his executive authority to expand the existing income-based repayment program with a ‘Pay as You Earn' option that would allow graduates to pay 10 percent of their discretionary income for 20 years and have the rest of their federal student loan debt forgiven."

One thing is for sure: if tuition continues to rise, something has got to give; be it universities and higher learning as a whole or, unfortunately, student enrollment. More information is to come in the following weeks about this topic. In the meanwhile, students in Wisconsin and across the country continue to hold their breath.