University of Wisconsin System plans to raise in-state tuition by 5% next school year

The University of Wisconsin System wants to increase tuition for in-state undergraduates by about 5% next school year, UW System President Jay Rothman said Thursday.

Rothman said he will ask the UW Board of Regents to approve the rate increase at a board meeting later this month. If approved, it would be the first increase in a decade for resident students.

Even with a 5% tuition increase, Rothman said UW System would remain the most affordable higher education option in the upper Midwest.

"After more than a decade of frozen tuition rates and as costs have increased and more particularly in recent years, inflation has accelerated, it is essential that we seek this increase for the long-term financial viability of our universities and to sustain the quality of education and research and services that we provide," Rothman told lawmakers during an Assembly committee meeting.

Republican lawmakers froze tuition beginning in the 2013-14 school year, though UW's two-year branch campuses have had tuition frozen off and on for several years before that, too.

Republicans sent tuition-setting authority back to the board in 2021, but the Regents have declined to increase tuition in the past two school years, aided by an infusion of federal pandemic relief money last year.

The Regents have frequently talked about the unsustainability of the freeze.

It's proven popular among students and families but campus leaders say it wreaks havoc on their budgets. Without state money offsetting what campuses lose each year from the lack of tuition increases, it puts schools in a pinch because costs continue to increase even though revenue isn't. In response, universities have tried a range of financial strategies, including cutting programs, laying off employees and enrolling more out-of-state students over the past decade.

A 5% tuition increase would generate an estimated $38 million annually, Rothman said.

In-state tuition at UW-Madison is $10,800 annually. A 5% increase would bump the cost $540 to $11,340. Other universities offer tuition rates lower than UW-Madison.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, did not respond to a request for comment on UW System's proposed tuition increase.

Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, and Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, introduced a bill earlier this week capping tuition increases to the rate of inflation. The intent is to protect Wisconsin students from the possibility of soaring tuition rates when the current freeze ends.

"Our view of this is it was not to try to get above inflation or anything like that," Rothman said, noting that his proposed increase is less than inflation. "We want to be reasonable in how we approach this....We have to ensure that we are financially sustainable for the long term, but we also have to be affordable."