Regents approve biennial budget request to help UWs move “Up to the Middle” (day 1 news summary)

MADISON, Wis. – The Board of Regents today voted unanimously to approve the Universities of Wisconsin’s operating budget request for the 2025-27 biennium. The $855 million request over two years would allow the state’s public universities to shed their ranking of 43^rd of 50 states in public funding and reach the national median.

“It’s time Wisconsin escapes the Bottom 10 in public funding and gets Up to the Middle,” said UWs President Jay Rothman. “This budget request will spur innovation in research and teaching, make a degree more affordable for our students most in need, develop talent by focusing on student success, preserve accessibility, and ensure quality.”

Rothman told Regents that under this proposal, he would not recommend tuition increases over the period covered by the biennial budget.

“One thing seems very clear: An investment in the Universities of Wisconsin is an investment in Wisconsin,” Rothman said. “The Universities of Wisconsin will be serving the state for generations to come, and the investments we make now will carry through far into the future. The investments we fail to make will also have consequences that will be generational.”

Among the key features of the proposed budget:

Emphasizes talent development through student success services.
Extends the Wisconsin Tuition Promise to students from families earning up to $71,000 in adjusted gross income.
Proposes 5 percent and 3 percent general wage increases for staff and faculty, and requests the state fully fund the increases while adding a merit and market pool.
Invests in innovation, including creation of a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hub.
Preserves accessibility while covering inflationary cost increases.

In presenting the budget proposal to the full Board, Regent Ashok Rai noted that the share of the UW budget funded by the state has dropped to 18%, forcing the universities to become more dependent on tuition revenue to fund operations.

A key provision to address affordability is the renewed call for support of the Wisconsin Tuition Promise, a targeted “last dollar” approach to help lower- and middle-income families access higher education by covering the remaining costs of tuition and fees after all other sources of aid have been first applied. “This is a strategy with proven results that increases enrollment and produces more graduates to the workforce,” Rai said.

The budget proposal also requests support for several initiatives that address student success, including mental health services, academic and career advising, and civil dialogue training. To ensure continued quality, Rai said the proposal calls for providing compensation for faculty and staff that keeps pace with inflation and prevents salaries and wages from falling further behind peers. The proposal targets general wage adjustments of 5% and 3% for the two years of the biennium.

To keep Wisconsin at the forefront in industries that are traditional strengths – like dairy and freshwater – Rai said the budget proposal includes a request for investments in innovation. “A major investment in artificial intelligence is designed to do what the Universities of Wisconsin do best – prepare our students and our citizens, and partner with our business community, for success in a changing world.”

“This is a way forward for the state of Wisconsin,” Rai said. “I really do believe this is the appropriate time for this ask.”

Regent Karen Walsh said she especially appreciates the alignment of the budget request with the strategic plan.

The now-approved budget will be submitted to the Department of Administration in September.

Capital Budget request approved

The Regents also unanimously approved a proposed 2025-27 Capital Budget Request of $1,760,804,000. The proposed Capital Plan reflects the core values of the Universities of Wisconsin by ensuring that projects include measures such as innovation (by promoting flexibility and adapting to changing conditions), sustainability (ensuring fiscally prudent and environmentally friendly projects), and accountability (ensuring that universities implement projects in a timely fashion within established budgets).

See the 2025-31 Capital Plan Overview PowerPoint (PDF)

Key strategic elements of the Capital Budget recommendations include:

Repairing Aging Facilities – The highest priority programs are designed to repair or renovate aging facilities and infrastructure, thereby reducing deferred maintenance backlogs. A recommended $260 million is proposed to address high priority needs in existing facilities ensuring their viability for the foreseeable future. These projects offset increasing operational costs due to the labor-intensive need to continually maintain the facilities to keep them functioning.
Replacing Obsolete Facilities – $467 million is requested to construct new facilities to replace existing ones that cannot be renovated cost-effectively to meet academic or program needs. Simultaneously, due to the enumeration of a Multi-Building Demolition project earlier this year, universities currently are on track to remove at least 12 facilities over the course of the next year.
Expanding STEM and Health Sciences Education – Requests for state funding focus on providing high-quality, up to date facilities that support workforce needs, attract, and retain Wisconsin students, and expand highly sought-after STEM and health sciences education.

The Department of Administration, Division of Facilities Development and Management receives budget requests from all state agencies and makes a single recommendation to the State of Wisconsin Building Commission. The Building Commission then makes a recommendation to the Legislature through the biennial budget process.

Regent President’s Report

In her first meeting as President of the Board, Amy B. Bogost told Regents she appreciates the trust they invested in her, adding that collectively they all value education and understand it is the foundation on which the state is built.

“My motivation is to ensure we as a board do everything within our power to support our fantastic leader, President Jay Rothman, and his strategic plan,” Bogost said, noting Regents’ shared commitment to the state and their fiduciary duty. “We also know the importance of working with the legislature in being accountable to the people of Wisconsin.”

Bogost said that she and her Regent colleagues have all witnessed the transformative power of higher education. She noted their commitment to work collaboratively and diligently with determination and purpose. She thanked her colleagues for their “trust and support and for being part of this incredible journey.”

Bogost then highlighted several significant accomplishments from around the Universities of Wisconsin. She told Regents that UW-Stout’s Co-op & Internship Program will be presented with the AASCU Excellence & Innovation 2024 Stewards of Place award. The award recognizes an institution that demonstrates how it is navigating important trends in postsecondary education including equity and upward mobility, resources and resiliency, regional prosperity, and civic health. The Co-op & Internship Program, which uses applied experiential learning to support students’ intentional career development, has grown from 8 students in 1982 to more than 1,000 currently, with more than 750 companies impacted. Chancellor Katherine Frank will accept the award at AASCU’s November meeting.

Bogost also told Regents that the Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship – a division of the Universities of Wisconsin – and its Center for Technology Commercialization hosted this year’s Wisconsin stop on the America’s Seed Fund 2024 Road Tour. The national tour connects entrepreneurs working on advanced technology to the country’s largest sources o early-stage funding. More than 250 Wisconsin-based innovators, scientists, and researchers attended. America’s Seed Fund provides over $4 billion in early-stage funding to small businesses each year in a wide variety of technology areas such as unmanned systems, advanced materials, health, cybersecurity, and defense. Decisions on whether funding will be coming Wisconsin’s way should be announced within the next 12-18 months.

Report of the UWs President

President Rothman opened his report with a brief video, featuring a sampling of interviews with new UWs parents. The “Welcome to Opportunity” project, which is visiting all 13 universities during either orientation days or move-in days, will be airing on the UWs’ social media reels in coming weeks.

“It’s a reminder that going to college is something of great value to many, many people,” Rothman said, noting that the pride and excitement is palpable. He added that several recent reports – including studies by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce as well as the Wisconsin Policy Forum – provide compelling data showing the forecasted strong link between college degrees and higher-paying jobs in both Wisconsin and nationally in years ahead.

“In the UWs, we’re not only preparing students to meet the workforce demands of today, but we’re preparing them to thrive in careers that do not yet exist,” Rothman said.

In a follow-up to an earlier update on FAFSA, Rothman told Regents that according to the most recent data from the National College Attainment Network FAFSA Tracker, Wisconsin FAFSA completions remain 9.7% lower compared to the last academic year. This is slightly better than the national trend of 9.9% lower compared to the prior year. He acknowledged and thanked UWs’ financial aid officers for their diligence and commitment under trying circumstances to extending flexibility and reaching out to students directly to offer help in finding solutions.

Turning to Title IX, Rothman noted the UWs continue to monitor litigation involving new Title IX regulations nationally. Due to the federal injunction in Kansas v. United States Department of Education, the UWs have suspended permanent and emergency rulemaking regarding Title IX at this time – but remain ready to publish the rule and policies should the injunction be lifted.

Rothman then reported on his recent testimony before the Legislature’s Study Committee on the Future of the University of Wisconsin System. This was the second of several hearings the committee is expected to hold through the summer and early fall as it works toward developing recommendations that will be forwarded to the legislature. He reported that he discussed the UWs strategic plan as well as some of the challenges faced in the broader higher education landscape and some challenges unique to Wisconsin. He specifically called out the fact that Wisconsin is currently ranked 43^rd out of 50 states in public funding support for its four-year universities.

Finally, as part of regular updates on progress with the strategic plan, Rothman highlighted recent developments in the Direct Admit Wisconsin program, an important new initiative to help enroll more students in the Universities of Wisconsin. In Fall 2025, the first Direct Admit students will arrive at one of the 10 participating UW campuses. At this time, approximately 330 high schools are served by the program – about 53% of public high schools in the state, or 42% of high schools overall. Nearly 75% of all high school seniors attend these high schools and have the potential to be impacted by Direct Admit Wisconsin.

Rothman added that the first Direct Admit Wisconsin offers of admission started going out the week of July 29 and will continue to roll out through early October. As of earlier this week, more than 21,400 offers of admission have already been sent. “We are hopeful that Direct Admit Wisconsin helps more students recognize they are college material and there is a place for them at a UW university,” he said.

He also noted that the Direct Admit offers also included the news that students who come from families with an adjusted gross income of $55,000 or less will qualify for having their tuition and fees covered through the Wisconsin Tuition Promise (see the Aug. 2, 2024, news release). Rothman said the 2025 Wisconsin Tuition Promise is made possible by a donation by Ascendium Education Group, a Madison-based non-profit organization. He said the UWs’ biennial budget request asks the legislature to support and extend this initiative.

New and departing colleagues recognized

The Regents welcomed James Beeby, the 11^th Chancellor of UW-La Crosse. Beeby started on July 1 and comes to the UWs from Keene State College in New Hampshire.

“I am delighted to be working with all of you and advancing our mission, supporting our students, and creating knowledge,” Beeby said.

The Board also presented a resolution of appreciation to Regent Emeritus Dana Wachs, whose time on the Board ended in March 2024.

Calling it an honor to have been a Regent, Wachs urged Board members to continue to “fight for this university.” Wachs, who previously represented the 91^st Assembly District in the Wisconsin State Assembly, added: “We need to include people, not exclude. We need to love people, bring them in, educate them. Higher education is the great equalizer. We need to move the needle to fairness. We need to move the needle to justice, toward equity.”

The Regents then presented a resolution of appreciation to UW-River Falls Chancellor Maria Gallo, who is retiring.

Under Gallo’s leadership, the campus implemented its “Soaring to New Heights” strategic plan focusing on Success, Belonging, Sustainability, and Vitality – aligned with UW-River Falls’ mission, renewed mission, and newly adopted core values.

“I’ve often thought, what would River Falls be without this university that has been here for 150 years, educating thousands of students and served by dedicated faculty and staff who are committed to giving students their best opportunity for success, not only in their studies but in life,” said Gallo, who’s been at UW-River Falls since 2021. “I am privileged to work with amazing people who share the same passion for higher ed as I do.”

Finally, the board presented a resolution of appreciation to Sean Nelson, Vice President of Finance & Administration. Nelson is retiring after seven years with the Universities of Wisconsin.

Nelson saluted his colleagues, in UWs Administration, on campuses, and on the Board, for their unwavering commitment to students. “It really doesn’t matter your political persuasion; students are the focus,” he said.

He also noted pride in his team, who are always “competent, collegial, and collaborative … in service to the campuses.” And he thanked President Rothman for his leadership.

Business & Finance Committee

The Business & Finance Committee received the Cost-Benefit Analysis of Foundations and Associated Affiliated Organizations Report for fiscal year 2022-23. The report notes that 77 foundations and affiliated organizations supported the missions of the Universities of Wisconsin during that period. The universities received a total of over $402 million from primary fundraising foundations – an increase of over $20 million from the previous year – while providing $11.3 million in administrative support to these organizations.

In other business, the Business & Finance Committee:

Approved the 2025-27 biennial operating budget request, which was then forwarded to the full Board for consideration;
Approved the Status Report on Large or High-Risk Information Technology Projects. The report includes nine major IT projects within the system, including two projects completed since the last report in February, and one new project at UW-Parkside. For other projects still in progress, the report offers updates on their schedule, scope, and budget. The total project portfolio is $246.5 million, a 5.2% decrease compared to the February report;
Approved an agreement with CDWG for the purchase of equipment related to the UW-Parkside IT project noted above. This Network Equipment Refresh project will replace the aging wired and wireless campus network to improve capacity and security. The project budget is $3.4 million and is expected to be fully completed in June 2026;
Approved UW-Milwaukee’s graduate application fee of $75. While this fee has been in place since 2018, UWM is asking the Board for its explicit approval to ensure their compliance with Regent policy. The $75 rate is consistent with the graduate application fee at UW-Madison and other Research 1 institutions;
Approved an extension of UW-Milwaukee’s agreement with Collegiate Licensing Company, a licensing agency with whom UWM has contracted since 2015. This agreement, which has generated over $970,000 in revenue to UWM, will be extended through June 2026;
Approved the collective bargaining agreement negotiated between UW System and the Building and Construction Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin. The parties negotiated for a 4.12% increase in base wages, effective June 30, 2024 through June 30, 2025, at a total annualized cost of $448,000. The terms of the contract are consistent with those between BTC and the Department of Administration. The Committee also approved the collective bargaining agreement negotiated between UW-Madison and the Trades Council, under the same terms;
Received the year-end Budget-to-Actuals Report, which reflects the status of the Universities of Wisconsin FY ‘24 budget by major area of activity in comparison to actual financial experience for that year. The report provides this information for each individual university, but in aggregate, revenues exceeded the budget by 6.9% due largely to charitable giving, research grants, and interest earnings, while expenses exceeded the budget by 4.1%, with the largest variance in the category of salaries and fringe benefits. Total revenues exceeded total expenses by over $200 million; and
Received a report on gifts, grants, and contracts awarded to the Universities of Wisconsin in fiscal year ’24. Total awards were approximately $2.2 billion, a 2.1% decrease from the previous year, when several large federal research awards were reported. As a result, federal awards were 11% less than in fiscal year ’23, while non-federal awards increased by $106 million (or 12.0%).

Education Committee

The Education Committee approved UW-Milwaukee’s proposal to discontinue a program, specifically the College of General Studies (CGS) and its three academic departments. This proposed program discontinuance, resulting from the closure of UWM’s Washington County and Waukesha locations, would result in faculty layoffs at the CGS and has been advanced per Regent Policy Document (RPD) 20-24, “Procedures Relating to Financial Emergency or Program Discontinuance Requiring Faculty Layoff or Termination.”

In planning for and implementing those closures, UWM determined that the declining enrollments and existing market demand cannot sustain the CGS and its academic departments. Among other supporting documents, a letter from Chancellor Mark Mone explains the proposal process and rationale for the decision in detail, including how UWM considered alternatives and provided opportunities for input and feedback. UWM has been working closely with the Higher Learning Commission, its accrediting body, on teach-out plans and other support for current CGS students.

In other business, the Education Committee:

Approved UW-Milwaukee’s request for a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science. Elevating a successful existing Computer Science concentration within the Ph.D. in Engineering, the program will increase visibility to prospective students and external stakeholders, reduce data collection burdens, and increase flexibility. Strong interest in the existing concentration, and a 23% projected job growth for occupations where a computer science doctoral degree is needed over the next 10 years demonstrate demand for a stand-alone Ph.D.;
Approved UW-Stout’s request for a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Game and Media Studies (BSGMS). The program will leverage UW-Stout’s existing strengths in game design and the digital humanities to prepare students for careers with intersections among communication, digital media, management, and user research, such as design project management specialists and quality assurance analysts;
Approved UW-Superior’s request for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.). Joining the BSN@Home UW Collaborative program, it will be a 2-year program for Registered Nurses (RNs) who hold an associate degree in nursing and wish to advance their education to the bachelor’s level. The areas of focus (rural health, public health, and indigenous health) that UW-Superior will contribute to the Collaborative program reflect regional nursing needs as well as interest from nurses in other geographic areas in Wisconsin. Essentia Health projects a 5-year gap of over 1,000 registered nursing positions in the northern Wisconsin and Minnesota regions, of which over 50% are expected to require a B.S.N. degree or higher;
Approved UW Oshkosh’s academic unit realignment proposal with an official effective date of July 1, 2025. The realignment has financial benefits, with immediate savings from the consolidation of administrative work. The realignment does not affect the program array offered by UWO. The university will realign its four existing colleges into three new colleges and six new schools. The existing College of Business, College of Nursing, College of Education and Human Services, and College of Letters and Science will be reorganized into three colleges each containing two schools:
College of Business, Arts, and Communication comprised of the School of Business and the School of Media, Arts, and Communication;
College of Public Affairs and Education comprised of the School of Public Affairs and Global Engagement and the School of Education and Human Services; and,
College of Nursing, Health Professions, and STEM comprised of the School of Nursing and Health Professions and the School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics;
Approved amendments to Regent Policy Document 1-1, “Mission Statements,” which codifies the shared mission of the UW System and its universities, and the core missions of the doctoral cluster and the comprehensive university cluster of institutions within the system. The approved amendments, presented by UW-Stout Chancellor Katherine Frank and Provost Glendalí Rodríguez, create a new core mission statement for a third polytechnic university category, which would include UW-Stout as its only member. The revision helps stakeholders, including prospective students, to better understand the unique educational experience provided by UW-Stout; and
Heard an update on Direct Admit Wisconsin implementation. This is the first phase in implementing a direct admission initiative, which aims to increase access and simplify the admission process for Wisconsin high school students. This presentation shared the number of participating high schools, the process of notifying participating high school students of direct admission decisions, just-in-time direct admit data, engagement in national conversations about direct admission, as well as next steps.

Capital Planning & Budget Committee

The Capital Planning & Budget Committee approved the 2025-27 Capital Budget recommendations, which align with the Universities of Wisconsin 2023-28 Strategic Plan through a commitment to stewardship of existing assets by addressing deferred maintenance; removing obsolete facilities; maintaining affordable, accessible, and high-quality educational environments for our students; and advancing Wisconsin’s workforce needs. The recommendation was then forwarded to the full Board for consideration.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee heard a presentation summarizing a risk treatment plan developed to assist the Universities of Wisconsin in mitigating high-level risks identified during Year 1 of the Risk, Compliance, and Audit (RCA) Pilot Program. The pilot was conducted during the FY 2023-24 academic year under which risk assessments were completed by five participating UW universities and the UWSA Risk and Compliance Council.

Once the high-level risks were identified the participating UW universities developed lists of existing treatments that were in place at the university-level to manage each risk. Universities also offered proposed treatments for the UW Administration to consider in managing the risks systemwide. The Risk and Compliance Council reviewed the list of proposed treatments and compared them with existing actions currently being undertaken at the system level. A final list was then drafted of treatments that are and/or could potentially mitigate each of the identified high-level risks to a reasonable level.

In other business, the Audit Committee:

Heard an Audit Plan Progress Report for Fiscal Year 2025; and
Heard a summary of results for audits recently issued.

The Board of Regents meeting will continue at 8 a.m., August 23, 2024, with a closed session at Van Hise Hall, Madison.