In 1963 the Federal minimum wage was $1.25 per hour. However, the University of Wisconsin—a state institution—paid student workers 75 cents per hour.
The UW’s position was that students were paid less because they were students, but like most people, students have to eat. And even though students were paid less they did not get discounts on food, rent, or tuition. So the students organized and formed a union to advocate for the university to pay them the federal minimum wage.
Today students are again responding to the high costs of education in Madison—and throughout the UW system—by demanding to raise student hourly wages. While the university system has expanded funding for low-income students, student debt and student wages would have been an issue if the original intent of the work-study program and the Wisconsin Idea had been supported by the UW and by the political leadership of the state. The development of work-study, union organization by students, and the state commitment to higher education all came together between 1963 and 1965.
Up until the mid-1960s the Wisconsin Idea—the political compact supported by the majority within the state—essentially said pay your taxes and you get good county roads (to allow delivery of milk), access to support from UW for agriculture (UW Extension), and access to the University of Wisconsin for...
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