Category: Top Stories

Overall, tuition hikes are expected to generate about $49 million in additional revenue, said Julie Gordon, interim vice president of finance and administration, during a meeting of the regents’ Business and Finance Committee on July 10.

Increases in tuition are needed despite an increase in state funding for the UW System in the 2025-27 state budget, regents and UW staff said during July 10 discussions.

Faculty members at most campuses across the University of Wisconsin system will soon have to teach at least eight courses per academic year.

Tax cuts for retirees and middle-income residents, raises for UW system employees and an increase in special education funding are among highlights of the $111 billion state budget, signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers early Thursday morning.

The overall package cuts taxes by $1.3 billion, spends hundreds of millions on building projects on University of Wisconsin System campuses, expands Medicaid funding, increases funding for special education and funds new childcare programs, among other measures. In all, it spends $111 billion, a 12% increase over current spending levels.

The budget deal includes $14 million in municipal service payments — payments from the state for police, fire and waste removal services provided to state facilities by local governments — a significant chunk of which will go to the City of Madison. It also includes $194 million for projects at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is in Roys’ district.

Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders in the Legislature have reached a budget agreement that could give the Universities of Wisconsin its biggest boost in two decades, increase how much the state reimburses school districts for special education and continue subsidies for the state’s child care industry.

Under the deal, the UW system will get $256 million in new state aid that must be allocated under two new formulas that prioritize stabilizing campuses with declining enrollment and rewarding campuses for the number of credit hours that students complete.

Leaders in the state Capitol announced with hours to spare before the dawn of a new fiscal year that they had reached a tentative agreement on key elements of the state budget, including Medicaid funding, special education, childcare and the University of Wisconsin System.

In the end, at around 10:30 p.m., the committee began its meeting but scrapped votes on the most controversial areas of the budget, like the University of Wisconsin System, Medicaid funding, and whether to close the Green Bay Correctional Institution. Those areas are scheduled to be taken up Tuesday, July 1 — a day before the full Legislature is set to vote on the new budget bill.

Advocates for higher education say it’s the wrong time for lawmakers to be considering a funding cut for Wisconsin’s university system.

Republicans in the state Assembly are floating the idea of slashing $87 million from the Universities of Wisconsin as part of the biennial budget. Last week, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters that he supports the cut, citing concerns about “too much political correctness” within the university system.

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin noted in a Monday message to UW–Madison faculty and staff that both the above issues factored into the base budget reductions of 5% that schools and colleges will be required to implement for next school year. Administrative and all other units that receive 101 funds will reduce their fund 101 base budgets by 7%.

Deans and vice chancellors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will have to make tough choices in the coming weeks. University leadership on Monday announced budget cuts for the next financial year.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is cutting its budget due to ongoing financial uncertainties stemming from changes to federal funding.

Schools and colleges will face a 5% base budget cut for fiscal year 2026, while administrative units will see a 7% reduction. These cuts are part of efforts to protect the university’s financial viability amid risks like potential federal funding changes and grant terminations.

UW-Madison leaders are telling all departments to reduce their budgets by at least 5% amid a flurry of federal changes shaking up higher education and now further uncertainty surrounding the state’s budget.

Facing funding cuts from the Trump administration and uncertainty from the Wisconsin Legislature, the leader of the state’s flagship university directed all departments Monday to cut their budgets between 5 percent and 7 percent next year.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told reporters Wednesday afternoon the Republican caucus supports a roughly $80 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System budget, saying the reform is needed to fix the “broken” process currently in place.

Republicans who control the state Legislature are considering cutting funding to the University of Wisconsin System by $87 million as they build a new two-year state budget that may require Democratic votes to pass.

University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman continued to push for an increase in state funding, defending the system’s 2025-27 biennial budget request at a committee hearing Thursday while impending federal funding cuts cast a long shadow over higher education in Wisconsin.