Republicans OK two more years of UW tuition freeze, reduce funding increase

The Republican-controlled state budget-writing committee extended a tuition freeze for undergraduate residents attending University of Wisconsin campuses over the next two academic years.

But the Joint Finance Committee again declined to “fund the freeze” and provide the UW System with state money to offset what campuses would have received from inflation-level tuition hikes.

The committee, in a 12-4 party-line vote Tuesday, approved a roughly $58 million increase to the System’s total budget over the next two fiscal years, about a fourth of which will go toward standard budget adjustments or debt service. The $45 million that campuses may gain is less than half of what Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and System officials requested.

“I feel like I’ve been kicked in the shins,” UW System President Ray Cross told reporters after the vote. “We didn’t even get inflation in this request.”

Read more: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/republicans-ok-two-more-years-of-uw-tuition-freeze-reduce/article_ac6c67e8-efb9-5874-a5ec-ae7ae04fa8c0.html