Ella Madsen

The State of Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau provided a report for the 2022-2023 fiscal year in Dec. 2022 showing the debt and other topics regarding the 13 Universities of Wisconsin campuses. After seeing the report, Gov. Tony Evers is prompting a funding increase for the Universities of Wisconsin system in the next budget.
The Wisconsin State Journal shows the projected debt for the UW System campuses by 2028. UW-Oshkosh is projected to have $88.1 million; UW-Platteville $49.6 million and UW-River Falls $40.3 million in debt. Of the campuses, UW-Green Bay, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Superior and UW-Whitewater need to make “drastic changes” otherwise this debt will be likely to show. Other campuses, except UW-Madison, will be providing audit details soon.
In the beginning of the audit, State Auditor Joe Chrisman states, “UW System’s net position was $6.4 billion as of June 30, 2023. UW System revenues were $6.3 billion, including $1.5 billion in revenue from Student Tuition and Fees. UW System expenses totaled $6.4 billion in FY 2022-23, including $4.1 billion for Total Salary and Fringe Benefits. During FY 2022-23, UW System reported a total of $26.3 million in federal aid related to the public health emergency, largely related to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF).”
Despite the multiple job layoffs from UW-Platteville, UW-Oshkosh and other campuses, it would not be enough to close the gap of debt that has been accumulated. Though, both the UW-Green Bay and UW-Oshkosh campuses have reported that the audit did not reflect those staff cuts in the report and that their debt has gone down significantly.
“UW system leaders largely point to the Legislature freezing in-state undergraduate tuition for nearly a decade and state aid was often cut or remained stagnant,” the Wisconsin State Journal said.
In 2023, the UW System announced that the 10-year tuition freeze across all UW campuses, that was created by Republican legislatures in 2013, would be lifted and raised by 5%. The increase in tuition is a continuing trend, as last week the board of regents announced a 4.4% tuition increase across the campuses, along with new differentials for certain majors.
“Given many factors, not the least of which are inflationary pressures over that period, a tuition freeze is simply no longer financially sustainable,” Rothman said.
UW president Jay Rothman stated the tuition increase for the 2024-2025 year will go towards funding the 4% pay increase for UW employees, plus an extra 2% pay bump for him and the chancellors.
In response to the audits, Evers has announced that he will be creating better funding for the UW System in the next budget for 2025-2027.
“Investing in the UW System is critical if we want to address our state’s workforce challenges and be able to compete to recruit, train and retain talented workers. Wisconsinites deserve a UW System that is fully funded, fully functioning and that meets the needs of our students, our workforce and our local communities. The Legislature must step up, and that’s what I’ll be asking them to do once again in my next proposed budget,” Evers said.