The proposed increase was just approved by the Board of Regents at a meeting this morning.
Increase of $3,000 per annum for 2015-16, and an additional $3,000 per annum (for total increase of $6,000 per annum) for 2016-17.
UW Madison had requested further increases of an additional $2,000 per annum for 2017-18, and another $2,000 per annum for 2018-19, bringing the total increase up to $10,000 per annum after 4 years, but the Regents didnt give formal approval to the requested increase in the third and fourth years yet. Though they did indicate that they were generally supportive of the request.
That would be a nearly 40% increase in non resident undergraduate tuition over 4 years. As it is, its a roughly 23% increase over the next two years.
Were the professional school increases approved?
It looks that way, though not sure of the details:
Regents waiting on next election cycle.
What seems inequitable is raising grad and professional school tuition for Wisconsin residents - since many of these same students paid the undergrad tuition that built the reserve that funded the tuition freeze.
Has anyone heard anything specific about the faculty and academic staff cuts? In a statement that was put out by the Chancellor, it said notifications would go out in April to target individuals and that by July the terminations would be given out. I just want to know if there is any way to predict which departments and programs will be impacted hardest. Also, I would imagine that the unionization of graduate student TAs will be an issue here as it is at Harvard and in Canada presently.
I saw this proposal on the website. As a parent of an OOS junior, I have felt my son has had an extraordinary education at a very reasonable cost. We can do $3k more next year, and feel grateful for the experience UW has given our student. I am a huge supporter of UW, and rave about it to anyone who will listen.
At the same time, if my younger one were looking at big schools (he isn’t, he is a LAC kid), this upcoming increase would make us weigh choices. Maybe our instate option would seem more appealing, or maybe we would look again at MN Twin Cities, as that had been a cheaper option, though I remember they said they would be raising OOS rates to be more in line with other midwest publics.
@Leyland: That is a good question, though I would like to clarify: from what I had read in the past, those proposed April cuts were for classified staff positions only, not for faculty. I would have to see some concrete documentation to believe faculty positions were being terminated. That would be, of necessity, a very involved and careful process, as there is a stringently procedural process involved to hire faculty in the first place. Even moreso if they are tenured, or tenure-track positions.
Re: unionization of graduate students: this is an ongoing process at many campuses around the country, not just Harvard and Wisconsin. There’s been coverage of movements from NYU to Yale to campuses in Chicago to those in California, and many in-between. I’m not sure of the current status at UW, but I believe the official policy as it stands is that grad students are not unionized, but there are groups of grad students that have come together to better their circumstances. There’s a great amount of activity in general surrounding the state budget proposals, but it doesn’t mean that the graduate students’ long-term objectives will quickly transform. These initiatives have been in process around the country for a long time.