Madison College Reports Enrollment Increase

College Officials Report Enrollment Increases
Channel 3000/Updated: 7:56 am CST January 12, 2010

MADISON, Wis. -- Madison Area Technical College officials said that they're seeing double-digit growth in back-to-school enrollments, which they said justified a big jump in the tax levy in 2009.

Madison College has seen steady increases in students since this time last year, which led in part to an increase in property taxes in 2009 -- at the highest rate of any part of residents' tax bills.

Crowded hallways and long lines are the norm throughout Madison College's Truax campus as classes start for some excited students, WISC-TV reported.

New student Uriel Rosales, of Sauk City, said he's dealt with the congested conditions.

"I see a lot of people, long lines for everything. Just to even see an adviser took me an hour and now, I'm in line again," said Rosales.

"I'm taking liberal arts classes right now, but next semester, I'm transferring to the barber and cosmetology program," said Kelsey Nelson, of Madison.

There are 14 percent more students at Madison College compared to last year, which is more than it had projected in increasing the levy limit in 2009 by 8.6 percent.

School officials said that the increases were necessary given the growth numbers.

"That was partially as a result of the growth that we had anticipated and what we're experiencing," said Roger Price, vice president of Infrastructure Services at Madison Area Technical College.

Officials said that they needed to add sections and expand into a West Side campus.

"Two-thirds of that cost comes from the taxpayer so any time that we are growing or have additional needs to serve the community, there's going to be an additional burden on the taxpayer," Price said.

However, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance said the appointed, not elected, Madison College board has tax rate limits based on total property value and not levy limits. It's the same for all technical college districts around the state, alliance officials said.

"The discussion if we were to think about some kind of reform would center around electing the board, which some people would think is not a good idea. Or, finding an alternate way to raise the money so you wouldn't have an unelected board levying taxes," said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

Either way, students said keeping the funding flowing is important.

"We need more of our youth to progress and do better stuff with their lives instead of ending up in jail," said Nelson.

"I definitely think it's worth it because it obviously is helping more students to enroll in classes and let MATC be well known around the area," said Rosales.

College officials said that they're well below their rate limit right now and they fully consider the impact on taxpayers when raising the levy. The 2009 increase added up to about $22 dollars on the average home, WISC-TV reported.

While other technical colleges have seen increases in enrollment, Madison College's increase was the second-highest hike in the state next to Southwest Technical College's increase of more than 13 percent. Milwaukee Area Technical College went up 1.8 percent while Janesville's Blackhawk Tech only increased their levy 0.6 percent.

MATC officials said that the board is just now beginning to consider what the levy could be this year, but if more expansion of services is needed, it could go up again.