Property taxes and Technical Colleges

Wisconsin residents believe the technical colleges are a good value for their tax dollars. (Interact Communications poll, November 2005).

83% of Wisconsin's residents feel tech college is a good value for tax dollars

Technical colleges account for a modest portion of total property taxes, despite a dramatic decline in state funding and major increases in the number of residents served.

• The owner of a $135,000 median value Wisconsin home paid an average of $218 in property taxes to support the local technical college this year. This accounts for less than 7% of total property taxes on average statewide.

• State support for technical colleges has been spiraling for 25 years. General state aidable cost support has dropped from 36% to less than 18%.

• Despite this, technical colleges have accommodated record high enrollments with very low cost increases, no cost increase, or falling costs per fulltime student. Costs per student are well below even historically low inflation rates. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) average for the five-year period is 2.4%, while the technical colleges average increase cost per full-time student is 2%.