UW Board of Regents to act on tuition increase today

• UW System

UW System

Talk about it

MADISON - The UW Board of Regents is expected to act today on a proposed five-and-a-half percent tuition increase for this fall.

University President Kevin Reilly announced the proposed increase on Monday, and the UW’s policy-setting body will discuss it when it meets in Milwaukee. The flagship Madison campus would no longer have the lowest tuition among Big Ten Conference schools. It would put the UW in about the middle of the pack. This is the sixth year in a row that tuition at the four-year campuses would jump by five-and-a-half percent. And it does not address financial aid, which was not increased in the state budget adopted a year ago.

UW senior vice president David Olien says Wisconsin has one of the weakest financial aid programs in the nation. He says it must be addressed if the university is going to address the job-and-business issues being raised by politicians at the state level. Meanwhile, the UW is under pressure to raise its number of graduates. And the connection between graduates at the state’s economy came up a number of times yesterday at a meeting of a task force that’s considering flexibilities and a re-structuring of the UW System. That panel is expected to make its recommendations later this summer.

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