University of wisconsin tuition

informational

paper #35

university of

wisconsin tuition

legislative fiscal bureau

state of wisconsin

january 2021

University of Wisconsin Tuition

Prepared by

Erin Probst

Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau

One East Main, Suite 301

Madison, WI 53703



University of Wisconsin Tuition

Introduction

Higher education benefits both the student and

the state. The student benefits primarily through

increased knowledge and future earnings while

the state benefits through greater tax revenues, increased economic development, and decreased

spending on health and social programs, among

other less tangible benefits. The precise amount of

these benefits that accrue to the state, as opposed

to the student, cannot readily be determined. As a

result, the amount of state support for higher education and subsequently the amount of tuition

charged to students is a matter of public policy.

Factors that may be considered in setting tuition

include: whether or not students are paying their

fair share; whether higher education is affordable

for state residents; how tuition levels compare to

those of similar institutions in other states; and

whether the amount of the state subsidy is consistent with the perceived priority of public higher

education in the larger context of the state's needs.

This paper provides information related to tuition

rates, instructional costs, Regent tuition authority

and limits on resident undergraduate tuition, the

relationship between tuition levels and the state

budget, past tuition increases and the causes of

those increases, tuition revenues, segregated fees,

and comparisons to tuition charged in other states.

Tuition Rates

Table 1 shows the amount of tuition and segregated fees charged by each UW institution in

2020-21.

Prior to 1993-94, the Board of Regents set

three resident undergraduate tuition rates: one for

Madison and Milwaukee, one for all other fouryear UW institutions, and one for the UW

Colleges. In 1993-94, UW-Madison implemented

a technology fee which separated tuition at that

campus from tuition at UW-Milwaukee.

Beginning in 1997, the Regents have had the

ability to charge differential tuition. Differential

tuition is an amount charged on top of base tuition

to support additional services and programming

for students at a particular institution. Differential

tuition can be charged to all students enrolled at a

particular institution, to a particular category of

students, such as all undergraduates, or only to

students enrolled in certain programs. Programspecific differential tuitions are usually charged

for programs that have high operating costs such

as the health sciences and engineering.

Differential tuition may be set at a dollar

amount or as a percentage of base tuition. Individual students may be charged multiple differential

tuitions. For instance, a resident undergraduate

engineering student at UW-Madison is charged

both the undergraduate differential ($1,000) and

the School of Engineering differential ($1,400).

Additional revenues generated by a differential

tuition are retained by the campus or program that

generates them.

Differential tuition charged to all undergraduate or all undergraduate and graduate students are

reflected in Table 1. For example, resident undergraduate students at Eau Claire are charged base

tuition of $6,298 plus a differential tuition of

$1,063 for a total of $7,361 while undergraduate

students at Stevens Point are charged base tuition

of $6,298 plus a differential tuition of $400 for a

total of $6,698.

Table 2 shows differential tuition charged in

2020-21 and the year in which each differential

tuition was implemented. As shown by the table,

1

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