The governing body for the University of Wisconsin System approved expanding a two-year tuition freeze for in-state students to now include out-of-state, graduate and professional students.
The UW System Board of Regents met July 9 and 10 and approved the additional tuition freezes and also approved the flexible option degrees included in the recent biennium budget. The flexible option degrees combine free online classes and other educational resources for students to graduate from a UW System college at their own pace.
The UW System collaborated with UW Colleges and UW Extension’s Division of Education, Online and E-Learning to develop the Flexible Option degree.
Associated Students of Madison Chair David Gardner praised the Board of Regents and the Wisconsin Legislature for the original tuition freeze and its subsequent expansion.
“This freeze will make higher education more accessible and affordable for all current, prospective, students as well as allow students and their families to plan for the costs of higher education and ensure a more stable economic future,” Gardner said in a statement.
David Giroux, UW System spokesperson, said the tuition freeze should help encourage out-of-state students who would like to attend a UW college but are concerned about the price of tuition.
In addition, a proposal from UW to increase tuition for four of its professional schools was deferred to a later date. Giroux said he was unsure which professional schools were part of the proposal.
Although tuition rates are frozen, room and board rates and segregated fees will increase. On average, the annual room and board will increase by $193, or about 3 percent, and segregated fees at four-year schools will increase by $36.
However, Giroux said while the tuition freeze is good news for students, it will cause some revenue problems for the system.
“Normally, a big chunk of our compensation plans are funded by tuition dollars, but with our new 1 percent pay plan [for university staff] over two years, those costs have no revenue associated with them,” Giroux said. “We will have to allocate the reserve funds to cover those costs over three years.”
UW System President Kevin Reilly added while the statewide 1 percent pay plan increase is positive, it is becoming harder to cope with the widening gap between pay for UW professors compared to the pay at competing universities.
In 2015, a loss of $47 million in tuition revenue in the system would likely contribute to a structural deficit for the system, which administrators are trying to work out for the future, Giroux said.
Gov. Scott Walker also released a statement commending the new flexible option degree program, calling it “a bold and innovative improvement.”
“Our budget included $2 million to fund start-up costs for this first-in-nation-approach, and I am pleased to see this come to fruition because we’re making it easier for people to pursue higher education,” Walker said.
