UW System Plans 5% Tuition Hike
2025-26 resident tuition and fees for UWM would be $10,916.
UW System President Jay Rothman speaks Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022 during the UW System Board of Regents meeting at UW-Green Bay. Angela Major/WPR
Tuition at Wisconsin’s public universities could increase up to 5 percent under a new plan released Tuesday.
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman will ask the Board of Regents on July 10 to increase tuition for undergraduate residents by 4 percent, with individual campuses able to add an optional additional 1 percent increase.
All of the universities, except UW-Green Bay, are planning to add the 1 percent if the proposal is approved, Rothman said.
UW-River Falls is asking to increase its tuition by 5.8 percent.
If approved, this would be the third year in a row the UW system will increase tuition after a 10-year freeze.
“Preserving quality while maintaining our ability to be a leader on tuition affordability in the Midwest is a top priority,” Rothman said in a statement. “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.”
The request by Rothman comes just days after Gov. Tony Evers and lawmakers reached an agreement on the 2025-27 budget, which includes more than $256 million for the UW system.
The UW system’s 2023-25 biennial budget is $13.7 billion. About 58 percent of funding comes from tuition and fees, 24 percent comes from the federal government and 18 percent comes from the state.
Resident undergraduate tuition for students in the UW system increased just 7.7 percent during the 10-year period from 2015 to 2025. Compared to UW’s comprehensive peers, that’s below neighboring states, which ranged from increases of 21.7 percent to 28.8 percent during that same period, according to the UW system.
“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,” Rothman said.
In 2023, the UW system increased tuition by 5 percent. It came after the state lifted an in-state tuition freeze originally put in place by Republican legislators in 2013.
Last year, the Board of Regents approved a 3.75 percent tuition increase for in-state undergraduate residents.
The proposed 2025-26 resident undergraduate tuition and segregated fees for each university are as follows:
- UW-Eau Claire: $10,067
- UW-Green Bay: $8,985
- UW-La Crosse: $10,360
- UW-Madison: $12,166
- UW-Milwaukee: $10,916
- UW-Oshkosh: $8,993
- UW-Parkside: $8,658
- UW-Platteville: $8,812
- UW-River Falls: $9,249
- UW-Stevens Point: $9,477
- UW-Stout: $9,859
- UW-Superior: $9,272
- UW-Whitewater: $8,819
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