Board of Regents Approves 5% UW System Tuition Hike
Regents also approve preliminary budget showing no UW campus with a deficit.
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
The Board of Regents for the Universities of Wisconsin unanimously approved a tuition increase of up to 5 percent for the 2025-26 academic year.
Board members voted on the increase Thursday.
Tuition will increase by 4 percent at all universities, with an optional 1 percent additional increase for a maximum of 5 percent. The increase amounts to about an additional $382, according to the UW System.
All universities except UW-Green Bay plan to adopt the additional 1 percent.
And one school, UW-River Falls, asked to increase its tuition 5.8 percent. Doing so will allow the school to continue implementing a student-approved proposal to hire professional advisers and establish programming for first-year students, UW-River Falls spokesperson Daniel Lea told WPR.
This is the third year in a row the UW system will increase tuition after a 10-year freeze.
“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,” UW System President Jay Rothman said in statement.
The regents’ vote on the tuition proposal came after lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers reached agreement on a new state budget for the next two years starting July 1.
Under the budget, the university system would receive a funding increase of about $256 million.
State funding represents about 20 percent of total revenues in the UW system. Tuition and fees makes up about 60 percent of the universities’ revenue.
Compared to UW comprehensive peers, resident undergraduate tuition increased 7.7 percent during the 10-year period from 2015 to 2025 — well below neighboring states, which ranged from increases of 21.7 percent to 28.8 percent during the same period, according to the UW system.
On Thursday the Board of Regents also approved the preliminary annual operating budget for the Universities of Wisconsin for 2025-26.
The budgets reflect a shift in the financial health of system universities. This time, none of the schools are projecting a structural deficit for 2025-26 in their General Purpose Revenue fund. That’s down from 10 of 13 with structural deficits in the 2023-24 budget, and six in 2024-25.
“We have to give credit to campuses who have had to make really difficult decisions to get their structural deficits eliminated,” Rothman told the Business & Finance committee. “I want to congratulate our chancellors, our CBOs [chief business officers], and our leadership at our campuses for the great work they have done. It has not been easy.”
The UW system’s preliminary annual operating budget projects total revenues of approximately $7 billion, down nearly 11.4 percent from 2024-25, while total expenditures are also projected to be $7 billion, down 11.8 percent from the prior year.
Board of Regents approves 5 percent tuition hike at UW campuses next year was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
