UW-Green Bay students, chancellor weigh in on Universities of Wisconsin tuition increase
GREEN BAY (WLUK) — Students at every Universities of Wisconsin school will be paying more for their education for the upcoming academic year.
Price hikes on tuition costs have UW-Green Bay students feeling worried.
“It’s definitely frustrating because I’m going for education and that’s a field where it’s required to go to school,” said student Dawson Malke.
Each of the 13 schools within the Universities of Wisconsin system will see a tuition increase of 3.75% percent for the upcoming academic year. UW-Green Bay was one of seven schools which had requested an additional tuition increase.
On top of the blanket increase, UWGB undergraduate students will have to pay an additional $104.40. As a result, students will be paying about $358 more than they did for the 2023-24 academic year.
“At the start of every semester you’re like, ‘Oh crap, here we go, another payment I have to figure out in a certain number of days’ and if it’s increasing it’s even more stressful because like, where am I going to pull this money from?” said Joseph Weiglein.
UW-Green Bay Chancellor Michael Alexander says the differential is going right back to students.
“More positions in, for example, advising, in career services, for mental wellness,” said Alexander.
For full tuition and segregated fees, UW-Madison students will be paying the most, totaling more than $11,600 per academic year. Students at UW Green Bay will pay $8,700, which is the fifth-lowest across the entire system.
This is the second straight year of tuition increases.
“This is the first two years that’s happened and I think that’s unfortunate for the current group of students who are in essence paying the price for the last decade when there was no tuition increases, right? Because it just didn’t change for a decade, think about what’s happened with inflation in the last 12 years. It didn’t move an inch in the UW System,” said Alexander.
UW-Green Bay students FOX 11 spoke with Monday all agree getting an education is important. But, they say it’s been stressful with rising costs.
“Recently I had to pay a lot out of pocket because I didn’t have financial help for that and I didn’t have the money so I had to make a payment plan. But, I was so stressed the last few weeks because of it,” said UWGB student Kiah Bartsch.
According to UW-Green Bay, fall enrollment for 2023 showed an increase of 7.6% from the year before. The school says the decision to increase costs was needed.
“To support our growth and to make sure that we’re properly serving our students, we had to add this differential,” said Alexander.
UW-Green Bay says any students having financial troubles can find support and discuss options with their adviser
Source: UW-Green Bay students, chancellor weigh in on Universities of Wisconsin tuition increase
