(The Center Square) – The University of Wisconsin’s latest proposed tuition increase is not very popular with some lawmakers in Madison.
UW President Jay Rothman on Tuesday announced a plan to allow campuses to raise tuition by up to 5%, starting this fall.
“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 tuition hike plan comes after increases in both 2023 and 2024, and after lawmakers agreed to give the UW almost $300 million more in the new state budget.
It also comes after a report that showed the university spent hundreds of millions of dollars more on salaries and benefits for UW employees.
“In the last decade, the UW not only lost 16,000 students, but bloated its budget and increased the salaries of its academic staff by $697 million,” Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, said. “[The] UW has also chosen to prioritize DEI and irrelevant courses over rightsizing and efficiency. Instead of simply returning their staff-to-student ratio to what it was 10 years ago, UW chose to resist reform, demanding more and more from the
state and its students.”
“Students will continue to bear the cost of the UW’s fiscal mismanagement until the admin faces the reality of their demographic problems,” Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, said on X. “Wisconsin graduated 67k students this spring. The 1st grade class had 52k kids. The time to consolidate programs and campuses is right now.”
Enrollment at the UW’s 13 four-year campuses largely held steady, though some campuses did see fewer students last fall.
With the tuition increase, in-state tuition at UW-Madison will jump to more than $12,000. Tuition at UW-Milwaukee, UW-Eau Claire, and UW-La Crosse will see their tuition costs jump to more than $10,000. All other campuses will be between nearly $8,600 and just lrdd than $10,000.
