Madison, WI – After receiving $1.13 billion for their capital budget and $316 million for their operational budget in the 2025-27 Wisconsin State Budget, the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents voted today to raise tuition by 5%. Senate President Mary Felzkowski issued the following statement:

The Universities of Wisconsin just received over a billion dollars of new, taxpayer money in the state budget, so now what are they doing? Raising tuition.

The last two tuition increases have been done in early spring so incoming students have complete information before the deadline to commit to a university; now, committed students are facing a shock tuition increase. Why is this year different? They had to first secure those billion dollars in the budget!

On top of it all, UW-Madison is now undertaking a media campaign to promote dismantling their DEI department. Don’t be fooled – the positions have simply been moved to other departments. The timing of the state budget, the tuition increase, and the false DEI media campaign is not coincidental.