Tuition increases at state universities trigger concern in budget-conscious seniors
As the school year winds down, seniors, both from West and even the wider nation, are preparing to embark on another educational journey: college. Many have already committed to a university and are now working out the details. As they work out details of scholarships and loans this year, the Universities of Wisconsin system will also be making changes to its financial plan.
In late March, the UW System Board of Regents announced that the cost of resident tuition at UW schools for the 2024–2025 school year would rise by 3.75 percent. Accounting for additional changes to the cost of fees and room and board, the average total cost of attendance in the UW system will rise by 4.4 percent. Though the exact size of the tuition increase varies from university to university, it generally ranges from 3 to 4 percent.
Alex Hummel, Chief of Staff for the Office of the Chancellor at UW-Oshkosh, explains that tuition has been increased to help universities cope with the persistent inflation of the past few years and respond to other costs associated with maintaining the university.
“The Board of Regents proposed and approved the tuition increase to support UW institutions’ ongoing costs, including compensation for our dedicated faculty and staff,” he said.
These changes come after a decade-long tuition freeze across the university system, when the state legislature required the UW System to pause all increases to the cost of tuition. The 2023–2024 school year saw the first rise in tuition in the UW System—an average of roughly 5 percent—since the freeze was put into place in 2013.
Though they help keep college affordable for students, tuition freezes can have detrimental effects when kept in place for too long.
“The freeze posed a revenue challenge for UW institutions, as, over the last decade-plus, they became more dependent on that source given relatively stagnant state general purpose revenue,” Hummel said.
Rising tuition rates might be a source of worry for students going into next year. The average student in the U.S. owes more than $37,000 in student loan debt, according to USA Today, and many students are concerned about graduating deep in the red. Among those students is senior Meriam Tajeddine, who will begin attending UW-Stevens Point in the fall.
“I am pretty worried about having debt after college,” she said. “I used to be a lot more scared of debt, but I applied for scholarships and I do feel a lot better after that.”
Frances Kerkhof, a member of Oshkosh Student Government and third-year student at UW-Oshkosh, recalls feeling a financial impact when increases were made last year, but says that they were able to cope with the additional financial burden.
“The tuition increases definitely impacted my experience at UWO,” they said. “However, I was very fortunate since I still live at home and don’t have to worry about food or housing, and numerous scholarships or on-campus jobs covered most of my tuition.”
Though the tuition increases will add to students’ financial burden, they translate to at most a few hundred additional dollars being added to tuition, which is relatively little compared to the overall cost of attendance.
After the tuition freeze, any anxiety caused by the coming increases may be a largely psychological effect that will dissipate as more regular increases are passed. Tuition for universities in the UW System has increased dramatically less than that in neighboring states, says Hummel. He cites data, showing that the average cost of resident undergraduate tuition has increased at UW System schools by only 4.5 percent since 2014, while increasing by between 10 and 47.5 percent over the same period in other peer systems in the Midwest.
Kerkhof notes that, between the affordability of UW schools, especially for in-state students, and various financial aid options, schools in the UW System are highly accessible to students. They have received five scholarships and stipends to help them pay for their education.
“I have been very fortunate with the scholarships and aid I have received during my time at UWO,” they said.
This year, the process to apply for financial aid has been complicated by the rollout of a revised version of the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Tajeddine says that, though her experience completing the FAFSA was straightforward overall, she did encounter a few inconveniences when using the application.
“When I first tried filling out the form, it was locked for the first week because there were technical difficulties,” she said. “It was stressful for the first few months after I submitted the form, because the date it was supposed to be processed kept changing and getting set to a later day.”
Even though it is an expensive endeavor, going to a four-year university offers students opportunities that they would not find attending a technical college or entering the workforce after graduating high school. Hummel points out that a university experience helps students develop widely-applicable skills that a technical college or professional training might not emphasize. These skills make students more attractive employees and engaged community members.
“It’s the kind of experience that hones students’ creative thinking, abilities to build, serve and lead teams, solve unpredictable problems, adapt and improvise throughout their lives and careers and be engaged, global citizens committed to their communities,” he said.
Kerkhof believes that a university education provides students with opportunities for success and growth that do not exist in other environments.
“I decided to go to UWO because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life,” they said. “The community and support I have found at UWO has been unmatched from anywhere else I have been, and I would not have made it through college without it.”
by Aria Boehler
Published April 29 2024
Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue VII