The Board of Regents unanimously passed a 2027-2033 budget plan and biennial 2027-2029 budget request Aug. 20, requesting funding for a new University of Wisconsin-Madison residence hall and a two-year tuition freeze for in-state students across the UW System.
The Board of Regents unanimously approved a 2027-29 biennial budget request which included a University of Wisconsin-Madison demolition plan for the Mosse Humanities Building with a proposed budget of $463.5 million.
The Universities of Wisconsin are proposing a two-year tuition freeze beginning in 2027 if state lawmakers approve a $190 million increase on top of the UW System’s $730 million budget request.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison would receive an additional $260 million in state funding, and in-state students would experience a tuition freeze if state lawmakers greenlight the UW system’s budget plans for the next two years.
The Wisconsin budget provides $14.6 million for athletic facility debt payments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and $200,000 each for the Milwaukee and Green Bay campuses.
“None of that state funds technically would go toward student athletes,” said Republican state Rep. Alex Dallman, who sponsored the legislation.
The Universities of Wisconsin Regent President Kyle Weatherly and UWs President Renee Wachter announced Monday that the Universities of Wisconsin will propose to freeze tuition rates for 2027-2029.
The pledge, called the 4-Year Tuition Pledge, is a main focus of the UW’s 2027-2029 budget proposal.
The Pledge proposes freezing tuition for the 2027-2029 biennium, provided the state invests $190 million to support the cost of the freeze and other operating needs that preserve educational quality, officials said.
The University of Wisconsin System is asking state lawmakers for $190 million in additional funding in order to freeze tuition for two years and cap the increase at the rate of inflation for the two next years.
The proposal is part of the university system’s biennial budget request from state lawmakers. UW leadership recently asked for an additional $90 million of funding to use toward training 35,000 new healthcare professionals over a 10-year span.
Universities of Wisconsin leaders announced a proposal Monday, Aug. 17, to freeze tuition through the 2027-29 budget cycle, provided the state invests $190 million to cover the cost of the freeze and other operating needs.
Under the plan, called the 4-Year Tuition Pledge, the university system would also commit to keeping tuition increases at or below the rate of inflation for the following two years.
Wisconsin’s public university system is emphasizing affordability, access and forward motion in its 2027-29 budget request, seeking a $730 million increase in funding from the state Legislature and governor ahead of November elections.
Universities of Wisconsin leaders are proposing to seek an additional $730 million in aid over the next two years with an offer to freeze tuition over that period — if the state comes up with the money to cover the lost revenue.
UW Board of Regents President Kyle Weatherly and interim system President Renee Wachter said yesterday if state lawmakers take them up on the offer for $190 million to fund the freeze, the system would also keep tuition increases at or under the rate of inflation for the 2029-31 biennium.
The Universities of Wisconsin is again requesting money to demolish and relocate UW-Madison’s Mosse Humanities Building and to build new residence halls.
The Humanities Building project tops the list of major requests included in the system’s $2 billion capital budget request for 2027-29, released Monday. The request seeks $463.5 million to cover the demolition of the entire building and a portion of the Art Lofts facility next to the Kohl Center, which houses a gallery for student and faculty artwork, though $46.8 million would be covered by donations.
The Universities of Wisconsin is pledging to freeze tuition for two years and create thousands more workers as part of a $730 million two-year budget request it plans to submit to the state Legislature.
The request, released Monday, seeks to “address the state’s needs,” UW system Interim President Renée Wachter said.
Over the last few budget cycles, the UW system’s budget efforts have had mixed success, sometimes leading to significant increases in state funding and at other times resulting in hard-fought negotiations that yielded little.
UW-Madison is closing a pair of libraries this summer as a result of campuswide budget cuts.
Friday was the last day students, faculty, staff and the public could visit the Geology and Geophysics Library. The Social Work Library shutters Aug. 14.
UW-Madison is taking another shot at building a new dorm to alleviate its campus housing crunch.
The Wisconsin Department of Administration, on behalf of the university, posted a request for proposals on Thursday, asking developers to submit plans for student housing with 1,500 to 2,000 beds and a 400-seat dining space.
Nearly 550 faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are set to receive pay raises this month as part of efforts to attract and retain faculty in high-demand fields of study.
State lawmakers provided $27 million annually and created an annual appropriation to the UW system in the current state budget for the compensation. Over 2,300 faculty members across the state’s 13 public universities are receiving raises through the funding, said Mark Pitsch, a UW system spokesperson.
“There is no prize for second place,” said Greg Keenan of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. “It is critical that the U.S. win the race for quantum technologies. Fortunately for us, UW-Madison is home to some of the world’s most significant breakthroughs in quantum science.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison students, alumni and professors who came to Washington to lobby for more research funding got schooled on just how important that funding is.
University researchers explained how federally funded work in quantum physics and mechanics led to the invention of GPS, lasers and MRI technology.
Taxpayers in Wisconsin could soon be putting more money towards UW-Madison.
A bill would make taxpayers pay for UW Athletic facilities freeing up money for NIL deals for student-athletes.
Gov. Tony Evers will decide if the NIL bill becomes a law or not and he stated that he supports the goal of this bill.
Wisconsin residents spoke out on how they felt about the bill.
“I think our taxes should be going to other things, especially since they’re so high.” said resident Sufiyah Siddique.
In a rare moment of drama in the Senate Tuesday, a bill that would give the UW-Madison athletics department millions to pay down debt and free up other money for revenue-sharing with players passed by a single vote that changed just as the legislation appeared doomed.
The Wisconsin Badgers are one step closer to receiving taxpayer support as they adapt to the changing college sports landscape.
With a one-vote margin, the state Senate on March 17 approved a bill to provide taxpayer funding for athletic facility debt service and formalize rules around name, image and likeness. Eleven Republicans and six Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while seven Republicans and nine Democrats voted against it.
Following the sports and money theme, the Senate will also consider a bill that would give more than $14 million to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for athletic facility costs in order to offset the money the school pays student athletes in NIL deals.
University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty are raising concerns over new workload requirements set to begin next fall that were passed as part of Wisconsin’s latest state budget negotiations.
Gov. Tony Evers told The Daily Cardinal in an interview Wednesday he is in the process of negotiating with the Legislature what will be done with the state’s budget surplus, but does not have a specific answer whether the University of Wisconsin System will receive any additional funding.
The bill is “is a Band-Aid to stop the bleeding,” said Ryan Poe-Gavlinski, director of UW-Madison’s Restraining Order and Survivor Advocacy Clinic. She said it could fill a critical funding gap until lawmakers figure out a long-term solution.
But the number of victims in need of services is continually on the rise. Wisconsin broke records for domestic violence-related deaths in 2024.
“We’re going to always have victims who need assistance, and there’s just not enough people to help the victims,” Poe-Gavlinski said.
To prove whether its methods work, the demonstration school would be required to participate in longitudinal studies through the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The school must also share its practices with other schools.
A charter school would be eligible for the designation as a demonstration school only if it is authorized by the Universities of Wisconsin’s Office of Educational Opportunity, which would select the demonstration school. Wittke said lawmakers chose the Universities of Wisconsin as the sole authorizer because it already has the infrastructure to support new techniques and conduct studies through UW-Madison’s education department.
One of the proposed constitutional amendments, SJR 94, takes aim at DEI programs throughout state and local government in Wisconsin. Republicans have been targeting DEI programs for years and have at times found success, including when they elicited concessions from the University of Wisconsin system in 2023.
A proposed bill in the package would create and fund two agriculture and climate change research positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension.
According to the co-sponsorship memo, the two new positions would be dedicated to studying climate change and agriculture, as well as learning about how the changing climate impacts the state’s landscape and economy.
According to data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, organic farming in the state supports more than 2,000 jobs and results in about $424 million in revenue. Wisconsin is home to 1,455 certified organic farms, covering 245,333 acres, second only to California, according to the Wisconsin State Farmer.
The Legislature is releasing $54 million for the Universities of Wisconsin now that the Board of Regents has fulfilled mandated changes to faculty workloads and students’ general education.
More academic programs at Wisconsin’s public universities could be on the chopping block under a new metric campuses must use to monitor enrollment trends.
The Universities of Wisconsin, also known as the UW system, formed a taskforce last year to explore program cuts in response to declining enrollment and persistent financial pressures.
A series of federal and campus funding cuts have plunged the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s foreign language programs into financial uncertainty.
Last spring, UW-Madison regularly offered 31 different foreign languages through the fourth semester level, but now, the future of many lesser-taught languages are in limbo after the Trump administration withheld federal funding and university-ordered campus-wide budget cuts.
Following the Trump Administration’s crackdown on higher education, University of Wisconsin-Madison administrators, student and faculty groups alike have stepped up lobbying efforts.
Lobbying reports from OpenSecrets show UW-Madison has spent $831,000 on lobbying since the beginning of the year, but information from the last quarter of the year has not been reported yet. During all of 2024, UW-Madison spent $807,000.
A series of federal and campus funding cuts have plunged the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s foreign language programs into financial uncertainty.
Last spring, UW-Madison regularly offered 31 different foreign languages through the fourth semester level, but now, the future of many lesser-taught languages are in limbo after the Trump administration withheld federal funding and university-ordered campus-wide budget cuts.
UW-Madison is revamping its Law School public defender training program after dismissing the program’s director as part of budget cuts.
Students have circulated a petition condemning the decision to lay off the director and have called on the university to halt the changes, but to no avail.
Lawmakers also took up a measure to penalize the UW system and the state technical college system if they’re found to have violated the free speech rights of their students and staff. Another bill would require the UW system to drop any fees it levies for online-only classes. Both passed largely along party lines.
More than half of the Universities of Wisconsin’s two-year branch campuses in recent years have faced closures or significant structural changes to adapt to shrinking enrollment.
Since 2023, with the closure of UW-Platteville Richland, six branch campuses shuttered or plan to. One campus moved classes online and another is relocating instruction to a nearby technical college.
Universities of Wisconsin faculty in high-demand fields of study could get salary bumps under a new policy that’s part of the recent state budget deal.
Last week, the UW Board of Regents approved a proposal detailing how the UW system will dole out $27 million annually for market pay adjustments to attract and keep faculty in growing fields, fulfilling a legislative reform set in the budget agreement. Of that, $2 million is earmarked for UW-Madison to use for faculty who work in “areas that advance diversity of thought and the foundation of free markets.”
Public college is less affordable in Wisconsin than in nearly every other state, according to a new analysis of 2022-23 school year data. The nonprofit National College Attainment Network, which advocates for college access, reports annually on each state’s “affordability gap” between the cost of college and what students and their families can pay.
State Democrats introduced legislation Thursday in an effort to ease the financial burden on Universities of Wisconsin students.
The “Higher Education Powers Wisconsin Package” includes a bill to extend Bucky’s Tuition Promise.
Under Bucky’s Tuition Promise, the program covers all tuition and fees for UW-Madison students from Wisconsin whose household income is less than $65,000 per year.
UW-Madison’s School of Computer, Data, and Information Sciences celebrated its new home Friday.
Morgridge Hall is a privately funded $267 million investment, with Tashia and John Morgridge as the building’s principal donors.
UW-Madison is getting an extra $13.5 million to add two floors to the lab it’s constructing for a new cyclotron particle accelerator, which can be used to help detect cancer.
The UW Board of Regents approved the revision to the project Thursday, which will create more space to treat patients for cancer and other diseases at the facility, amid a booming biotech industry.
In all, there are about 70,000 employees working for various state agencies and the Universities of Wisconsin system. The Legislative Audit Bureau estimates that from 19% to 75% of those employees work remotely or have hybrid work schedules, depending on the agency.
A University of Wisconsin Board of Regents committee has signed off on a $13.5 million expansion of a planned cyclotron particle accelerator research facility that will create radioactive isotopes used in cancer research, detection and treatment.
Patients with cancer could be diagnosed and treated in one building if UW-Madison gets approval for its expanded multimillion-dollar cyclotron lab.
Construction for a $48.5 million cyclotron lab between two research buildings next to UW Hospital was expected to start this year, but the university now is seeking the green light from the UW Board of Regents to add more space for patient treatment and research.
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials are planning to renovate one of the university’s oldest and most historic buildings in 2027. Science Hall — built in 1887 — will undergo a renovation to upgrade its interior and add a rear common space.
With a 7% budget cut, UW-Madison Libraries is closing the Astronomy, Mathematics and Physics Library at 4 p.m. Friday. The campus Social Work Library will shutter also at the end of the coming school year, and others will have reduced hours.
Gov. Tony Evers is implementing pay raises for state employees without additional approval from the Legislature’s Joint Committee for Employment Relations, citing a recent state Supreme Court ruling.
Evers’ legal claim on raises was tied to Vos following through on a promise in 2023 to use the employee relations committee to block pay increases for around 34,000 employees of the University of Wisconsin until state campuses eliminated all of their diversity, equity and inclusion positions. Later that year, Vos and the UW Board of Regents struck a deal to release the funding for pay increases in exchange for new limits on DEI hiring through 2026.
Legislative Republicans nixed a plan to fund a UW-Madison program that recovers the remains of missing service members, but a new proposal would require the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents to pay for it.
A team of students and experts in the Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project at UW-Madison sifts through archives and conducts field excavations in an effort to return the remains of veterans who went missing in combat to their families.
Infrastructure upgrades at the Wisconsin State Capitol and 20 other facilities throughout the state are some of the projects receiving funding that was recently approved by the state Building Commission.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison plans to create a new administrative unit to collaborate with the business community amid campus-wide budget cuts, led by a new Associate Vice Chancellor for Entrepreneurship who will drive business growth at the university “beyond patents.”
The 2025-27 Capitol Budget passed at the beginning of July includes $7 million for virtual mental health services to University of Wisconsin students at all campuses apart from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The inclusion of the funding follows a bill introduced by Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, and Senate Republicans on June 2 to address mental health issues among UW System students.
Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) announced plans in late June to cancel “University of the Air” along with three other legacy shows in part because of federal and state funding challenges.
Republican lawmakers are proposing a state law to limit tuition increases after the University of Wisconsin system approved another tuition hike earlier this month.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension is ending its 30-year-old FoodWIse nutrition education program and laying off more than 90 people after losing a federal grant.
Michael Notaro, director of UW–Madison’s Center for Climatic Research launched STEM camps in Beloit, Wisconsin Dells and at Madison’s Henry Vilas Zoo with a simple mission: make science accessible to all children with neurodivergences – but the camps are at risk.
“The main goals of the camps is to support the kind of interest and pursuit of science, degrees and careers, to foster and support neurodiversity and to celebrate it,” Notaro said.
UW-Madison Extension will wind down its FoodWIse programming following federal funding cuts, administrators announced Friday.
The move comes after the passage of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which eliminated funding for the National Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program (SNAP-Ed). The funding cuts go into effect on Sept. 30.
The camp is organized in collaboration with Dr. Michael Notaro, director of the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. With prior funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Notaro and his team have led similar camps in Beloit, Madison, and Wisconsin Dells.
However, future programming is uncertain. Federal support for the camps ended earlier this year when NSF grants were discontinued. While funding remains in place for this summer’s sessions, organizers are seeking alternative sources to continue beyond 2025.
FoodWIse, a statewide program providing nutrition education to low-income families and community organizations, announced on Friday that its federal funding is being eliminated.
Dr. Michael Notaro, director of the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, launched the program several years ago.
“I think that’s inspired by my son Hayden,” Notaro said. “He’s autistic and a wonderful boy. My wife is also autistic. And based on my desire to support and foster neurodiversity, we created three STEM camps.”
Most of the money goes to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension, which offers programming in 70 of the state’s 72 counties. While UW Extension is exploring ways to sustain some SNAP-Ed capacity through alternative funding sources, it has already begun winding down operations. Layoff notices went out to 92 SNAP-Ed educators, UW Extension director Karl Martin said.
