MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin System leaders have decided not to raise tuition for in-state undergraduates even though they could have the power to do so for the first time in seven years by this weekend.
The Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on a system budget Thursday that calls for no resident undergraduate tuition increases for the 2021-22 academic year.
Republican legislators froze resident undergraduate tuition heading into the 2013-14 academic year. The freeze has been in place ever since. Provisions in the 2021-23 state budget finally eliminate the freeze, however.
Gov. Tony Evers must take action on the budget by Friday or it will become law. He could sign the bill as it’s written, use his partial veto powers to rewrite it or veto it completely.
Asked why system President Tommy Thompson didn’t include a tuition increase in the budget, system spokesman Mark Pitsch responded with an email saying only that the regents and Thompson “are committed to a thoughtful consideration of tuition, which will be taken up at the regents meeting this week.”
It would still cost a little more for resident undergraduates to attend a UW school this fall, though. Total costs for living on campus, including fees, room and board and tuition, would increase 1% for a typical resident undergraduate under the system budget.