UW System ranks high in lost state funding - Sharif Durhams and Karen Herzog, the Journal Sentinel

State funding cuts to Wisconsin's public universities were among the largest in the nation this year, according to a national study, but University of Wisconsin System officials say a glitch in the data might make Wisconsin's cuts less deep than the study suggests. According to the annual study, the University of Wisconsin System had the third-largest state budget cuts in the country this school year with a drop of 21% from $1.46 billion in fiscal 2011 to $1.15 billion in fiscal 2012. The figures come from the Grapevine study, which has tracked higher education spending since 1960. It's conducted by Illinois State University's Center for the Study of Higher Education and the State Higher Education Executive Officers. UW System officials say the drop actually is 13.3%, from $1.33 billion to $1.15 billion. Some numbers for fiscal 2011 may have been counted twice by the Grapevine study, artificially inflating the cuts, UW System spokesman David Giroux said.