Frederica Freyberg:

But first we begin the news with a new University of Wisconsin System president. Late Thursday the Board of Regents unanimously selected Ray Cross to succeed Kevin Reilly, who served nine years in the post. As the new University of Wisconsin president, Cross will oversee 13 four-year campuses, 13 two-year schools and the statewide UW-Extension. In the name of full disclosure, Wisconsin Public Television is a part of the UW System. Ray Cross is the current chancellor for the UW Colleges and Extension. Before joining the UW in 2011, he was president of Morrisville State College in New York. Cross has his Ph.D. in college and university administration from Michigan State University and served in the Army during the Vietnam war. Joining us this week is the new UW System president, Ray Cross. Thanks very much for doing so.

Ray Cross:

Thank you, Frederica. Pleasure to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

First we to want say congratulations to you.

Ray Cross:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

We also, one of the first things we noticed following your selection as the new UW System president, was praise on that selection from Representative Steven Nass, a Republican who has often been critical of the university. Yet he said that he believes you understand the financial challenges facing middle class students. We also noted that you were endorsed by Republican budget writer John Nygren. Now, how do these relationships help the system rebuild this trust that has so often been talked about?

Ray Cross:

Well, I think both of those gentlemen are reflecting the discussions we’ve had in the past. We sometimes disagree, but I have considerable respect for both of them. I’ve had a number of conversations. We engaged, and I really enjoy them. They’re really, really interested in advancing the university. They may differ a little bit about how that should be done, and I really appreciate their honesty and their integrity, and their ability to engage and talk about pragmatic solutions to some of our difficult challenges.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, I know that you spent part of the day today at the capitol. What kinds of early messages were you getting from under the dome?

Ray Cross:

Well, this is part of the honeymoon, so a lot of support from both sides of the aisle, just very, very complimentary, very supportive, very encouraging. We’re here to help you, and I’ll need a lot of help. We all will. But also very interested in starting to talk about the budget and about some of the things we need to work on in order to help that budget progress in the future.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to talk a little bit about the budget in a moment, but what will your first priority be?

Ray Cross:

Well, one of the highest priorities for the university has to be compensation. How do we compensate our faculty and staff appropriately, particularly our star faculty and staff? And that’s a serious challenge. And that’s a high priority. Another high priority has to be how do we hold tuition down? It’s getting to be an incredible strain on families. And we all know that. And how do we do it wisely while maintaining the very high-quality education system.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, you compare losing star faculty to the Packers playing without Aaron Rodgers. How do you keep those quarterbacks at the UW? Is it all about pay?

Ray Cross:

Well, many of these folks are being sought after by very prominent institutions with money to pay them. So we’re in a market that is seeking people like this. And so our star faculty are often sought after by a number of institutions. That gives them a considerable opportunity to pursue that. So we have to be able to compete. I have used that simple illustration in this fashion. It’s not that we’re losing a lot of faculty. The quantity is about the same. It’s a little different once in a while. And some institutions have had spikes. But we’re losing some of our stars. And that’s a lot like the Packers having injuries and saying we aren’t losing any more folks than we normally do, but, gee, we lost Aaron Rodgers for a while and that hurt.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, the legislature froze tuition, as you well know in its last budget, and stripped the previously earmarked $180 million for the UW. In the face of that, what do you do about tuition?

Ray Cross:

Well, there are three or four factors, maybe five, that go into setting tuition. One is financial aid. Neighboring states have a higher tuition, perhaps, than we do, but they also have higher levels of financial aid. And ranking bodies suggest that their affordability is better, even though they have higher tuition, because they accompany that with higher aid. So both state and federal aid factors have to be considered. In addition to that, private money, how do we secure additional private money to soften those issues? And then there are other factors that contribute to reducing costs like, time to completion. If we can reduce the time it takes to complete a degree, we can, in many cases, save the families and the students money. All of those factors go together. And how do we link those into a rational tuition policy, but then also consider state aid?

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you get the sense that that state aid will in fact be increased for the University System to do what it needs to do in all of these kinds of ways?

Ray Cross:

I do. I don’t want to be overly confident about that, but I believe rational people looking at our budget and looking at what we do with those funds will come to that same conclusion. How do we do this well? I have not met one legislator, actually very few people at all, who thank that– who don’t love the university. They do. The challenge is how do we do it well? We all have differing ideas on how best to get there. But everybody I know wants the best for the university.

Frederica Freyberg:

On the issue of reserves, how will those accounts look different than those that caused the perception of this breach of trust?

Ray Cross:

Well, I’m not sure I would call them reserves. I would prefer to differentiate and call them fund balances. When we look at this in the aggregate, it looks very sizable, but there are 21,000 or 22,000 accounts in the university. It’s a massive, massive accounting process. And to aggregate that into a single account looks rather– rather sizable. And it is. And part of that complexity is what created some of the problems. It is so difficult to parse that out in reasonable ways that the average person can understand. And one of my goals is to move all of that into a simple budgeting structure and financial reporting structure that allows the average citizen to understand what our budget is. You shouldn’t have to be a CPA to understand the budget of the university.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Ray Cross, we leave it there. Thanks very much, and again congratulations.

Ray Cross:

Thank you, Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:

Peter Garland, executive vice-chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, had also been in the running. Ray Cross plans to step into his new post at the seventh UW System president in mid-February.