State Legislative Republicans Trying Again to Cap Tuition Increase at UW System

Monday, July 28th, 2025 -- 11:01 AM

(Corrinne Hess, Wisconsin Public Radio) Earlier this month, the Universities of Wisconsin system Board of Regents approved a 5 percent tuition increase for undergraduate students for the 2025-26 academic year. 

According to Corrinne Hess with the Wisconsin Public Radio, Legislative Republicans are now trying for a third time to cap tuition increases at the state’s public university system at no higher than the rate of inflation.

The proposal would limit the Board of Regents to “only increase tuition and fees for resident undergraduate students up to the rate of the Consumer Price Index.”

“A statutory cap on future tuition increases will provide Wisconsin families and UW System institutions with the predictability required to budget for college expenses into the future,” according to the proposal coauthored by Sen. André Jacque, R-De Pere, and Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville.

“It’s time to prioritize students over bureaucracy,” Jacque said in a message to WPR. “This bill gives students and families the ability to plan ahead with confidence without continuing to be used to backfill budget decisions that avoid limiting runaway administrative spending.”

Tuition will increase by 4 percent at all universities in the fall, with individual schools able to add an optional 1 percent additional increase for a maximum of 5 percent.

The increase will raise tuition by about $382, according to the UW system. This is the third year in a row the UW system raised its prices after a 10-year tuition freeze. Mark Pitsch, spokesperson for the Universities of Wisconsin, said the system is among the most affordable in the United States.

“It is critical that we have the flexibility to maintain the quality that students deserve and parents expect,” Pitsch said Thursday. Under the 2025-27 state budget, the university system will receive a funding increase of about $256 million. State funding represents about 20 percent of total revenues in the UW system.

Tuition and fees makes up about 60 percent of the universities’ revenue. Resident undergraduate tuition increased 7.7 percent during the 10-year period from 2015 to 2025, well below UW comprehensive peers in neighboring states, where increases ranged from 21.7 percent to 28.8 percent during the same period, according to the UW system.

This is not the first time Murphy and Jacque have floated a tuition cap plan. Murphy introduced legislation capping tuition at the Consumer Price Index in 2019, and the two legislators introduced similar legislation in 2023.

“Now more than ever, the Legislature must implement a common-sense law placing controls on these types of skyrocketing tuition increases,” the proposal states.

“That’s why we are again introducing legislation to cap tuition and fee increases for in-state Wisconsin undergraduates at levels no higher than the rate of inflation.”

Jacque said in 2019, Amber Schroeder , executive director of the pro-UW group Badgers United, testified on behalf of the cap, saying it would provide families and the university with “predictability.”

State Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, who is vice-chair of the Committee on Colleges and Universities, said the UW system should rein in administrative “bloat” and cut waste instead of raising tuition.

“I believe part of the solution is for the UW to accurately assess the true cost of instruction for each program and allow for differential tuition at every level based on market demand,” Nedweski said.

“A tuition price set by program cost per student, rather than a flat rate, would weed out low-demand majors and allow the UW to reduce costs internally so that they don’t need to raise tuition excessively.”

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