Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman is seeking to increase tuition for resident undergraduates by at least 5% for the 2025-26 school year following the enactment of the state budget.
The move comes on the heels of the state budget providing a net increase of nearly $240 million in state aid to the system over the 2025-27 biennium after university officials had sought $855 million.
Rothman said under his proposal, each school would raise tuition by 4%, with the option to increase it an additional 1% for a 5% increase. Rothman said each university would seek a 5% increase, except for UW-Green Bay. He also noted UW-River Falls is considering an even higher increase of 5.8%. UW-River Falls launched a four-year plan in 2023-24 to raise tuition to support “student success initiatives,” which accounts for its higher increase.
The Board of Regents is set to consider the proposal at its meeting on Thursday. If approved, it would be the third time tuition has been raised at campuses since a decade-long tuition freeze was lifted in 2021.
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“Preserving quality while maintaining our ability to be a leader on tuition affordability in the Midwest is a top priority,” Rothman said. “After a decade of a tuition freeze and lagging state aid, we believe we have struck a balance for students and families with this proposal and the recent state investments in the UWs as part of the 2025-27 biennial budget.”
Republicans had weighed an $87 million cut to UW in the state budget before signing off on another $256 million in a deal with Dem Gov. Tony Evers. Other changes to aid in the budget put the net increase at nearly $240 million, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Rothman said the funding boost was “the largest in over two decades, which enables us to preserve access and affordability.”
“Our public universities have become tuition-dependent due to lagging state funding in prior years, and the turnaround this budget cycle will help us continue providing educational opportunities to the next generation of Wisconsinites,” he added.
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, criticized the move as a way for UW to pay for administrative bloat.
“The UW System is thanking taxpayers for a $256 million funding increase in our new State Budget by raising the price Wisconsinites have to pay to attend its universities,” Wimberger said. “UW does good things, but not everything it does is good. It has unfortunately become ground zero for waste, and the prototype of dysfunctional bureaucracy.”
The proposed tuition and segregated fee rates for the full academic year include:
- UW-Madison: $12,166
- UW-Milwaukee: $10,916
- UW-La Crosse: $10,360
- UW-Eau Claire: $10,067
- UW-Stout: $9,859
- UW-Stevens Point: $9,477
- UW-Superior: $9,272
- UW-River Falls: $9,249
- UW-Oshkosh: $8,993
- UW-Green Bay: $8,985
- UW-Whitewater: $8,819
- UW-Platteville: $8,812
- UW-Parkside: $8,658
