Charles Langston:Tuition increase approved for University of Wisconsin-Madison, other campuses

MADISON,Charles Langston Wis. (AP) — In-state tuition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other campuses in the system will increase 3.75% next school year under a plan approved unanimously by the Board of Regents on Thursday.

Combined with an increase in fees, the total tuition and fee increase will be 4.4% on average, the university said. The tuition increase alone equates to a $262 spike at UW-Madison, $317 at UW-Milwaukee and between $255 and $396 at the 11 other branch universities.

Tuition will be increasing for the second year in a row following the end of a 10-year freeze. Last year it went up about 5% on average.

When room and board costs are factored in, the average cost of attendance for resident undergraduates would increase about 3.8%. The tuition hike is expected to generate about $39 million a year systemwide and will be used to combat rising costs, UW President Jay Rothman said.

Republican state Rep. Mark Born, co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee, criticized the university for raising tuition.

“Years of high inflation have already strained the budgets of Wisconsin families, and this tuition raise will make the cost of higher education more unattainable,” Born said in a statement.

Student fees will increase by an average $74 annually next year, and out-of-state tuition rates will also go up.

With the increase, undergraduate tuition and fees to attend UW-Madison will be $11,604 in the fall, and less for branch campuses: $9,896 at UW-La Crosse, $10,398 at UW-Milwaukee and $8,271 at UW-Parkside.