This October, Democrats in the State Legislator introduced a package of bills for the University of Wisconsin system, including a statewide tuition promise for low- and middle-income students, according to the Wisconsin Legislature website. The Higher Education Powers Wisconsin Package includes two bills that benefit Wisconsin residents who are first-time college attendees.
One proposal aims to extend UW’s Bucky’s Tuition Promise program already in place, and seeks to expand it to the entire UW system, according to the UW Office of Student Financial Aid. A second proposal focuses on the allocation of UW system funds for individualized university needs, such as program funding and counseling resources, according to the site.
The Wisconsin Tuition Promise focuses on expanding the Bucky’s Tuition Promise, a program designed to combine both grants and scholarships for in-state students whose household adjusted gross income is $65,000 or less, according to the UW Office of Student Financial Aid. First-year students receive eight consecutive semesters (4 years) worth of free tuition and segregated fees, while transfer students receive four semesters (2 years), according to the office’s website.
The newly introduced legislation aims to both expand and strengthen a similar framework to Bucky’s Tuition Promise, according to Senate Bill 386. The proposal would expand availability to more Wisconsin students by raising the AGI from $65,000 to $71,000, according to the bill.
The program would provide grants in the form of “last-dollar awards” which cover the remaining tuition and fees owed after all other grants, scholarships and federal aid have been applied, according to the bill.
Beyond last-dollar funding, the bill also includes all other federal grants and scholarships calculated into the fiscal policy. Wisconsin Democrats have written that the proposal funding aligns with the UW’s 2025-2027 state budget request to increase graduates by 10% by 2028, as written in the Senate and Assembly joint legislative memo.
Rep. Jodi Emerson, D- Eau Claire, who is an advocate of Bill 386 said the Wisconsin Tuition Promise seeks to keep in-state universities affordable for middle-class families and students.
“If you’ve got the talent and the work ethic to want to better yourself by going to a four-year campus, we should never let money or the means that you come from stand in the way,” Emerson said.
The goal of helping working families and taking financial burdens off students and their parents remains central to the legislation, Emerson said.
Funding for the bill would come from Wisconsin’s budgetary surplus of $2 billion, according to Rep. Brienne Brown, D- Whitewater. Funds would be drawn from the surplus in the initial years after bill passage and eventually incorporated into the biennial budget, Brown said.
“[Wisconsin lawmakers] just need to make sure that it’s something that’s permanently in the budget, which means [we] don’t rely on a surplus,” Brown said.
Students at UW would not see a change in scholarship funding, as Bucky’s Tuition Promise has been in effect since 2018, according to Brown. The bill would give other UW System schools an opportunity to support students but would not change anything for UW, Brown said.
The second proposal, introduced as the “Student Success, Workforce Gains” bill, aims to help Wisconsin students complete their degrees and enter high-demand careers after graduation, according to a press release. The proposed legislation has not received a bill number as of Oct. 24, but is in the process of being numbered and moved to the hearing stage, as stated in the article.
The proposal would distribute a total of $20 million — a $10 million investment into the UW system and $10 million to the Wisconsin Technical College System — to support student retention and degree/certificate completion rates, according to a Wisconsin Democrat legislative memo. The memo detailed that funding would last throughout the 2025-2027 biennium.
Funding for the UW system can help in various ways, Emerson said.
“Whether that is making sure that we have more social workers on staff, or whatever that specific campus needs, [in order] to help people stay successful and stay in their programs,” Emerson said.
Funding for the legislation would also come from the budget surplus, but other forms of financing throughout Wisconsin are ideal for backing up a program of this magnitude, according to Brown.
Brown said there has been a reluctance to increase revenue in Wisconsin, whether it means raising taxes on the wealthy or legalizing and taxing marijuana usage.
There are many ways to allocate funding in Wisconsin, and using creative ways to rearrange funds will help the process, Brown said.
Wisconsin Democrats aim to propose these student tuition bills to offset federal funding cuts, Brown said. The Wisconsin Legislature faced a threat of losing more than $2 million July 4 if they didn’t finish their budget before the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, according to Brown. To pass the state budget, Democrats and Republicans had to negotiate funding for higher education, Brown said.
“That was the opportunity for Democrats to come in and pull a little bit of their weight,” Brown said. “That’s why we got a decent budget that gave the schools basically a 1% increase across the board for the [UW system].”
The proposed bills such as the “Wisconsin Promise” and the “Student Success, Workforce Gains” would be meaningful pieces of legislation showing what Wisconsin Democrats are capable of, Brown said.
According to Brown, the package of bills demonstrates what Democrats will do if they take control in November 2026.
“Part of [election work] relies on giving people reasons to vote for us, too,” Brown said. “I think sometimes Democrats have been in the minority for so many years that we forget to play offense sometimes.”
The October tuition packages from Democrats would create fiscal policies that strongly impact students and families within the UW system and Technical College System of Wisconsin. With goals in mind of raising graduation rates of students and affordability for middle-class Wisconsinites, the bill proposals remain a strong push toward reshaping how Wisconsin funds and supports higher education in the years ahead.
