Gov. Tony Evers on Friday attended the Board of Regents of the UW system meeting in Milwaukee, urging the board to join him in supporting significant increases to support the UW system in the 2025–27 budget.
Evers announced that he will be requesting a $400 million increase in each year of the biennium in the state’s next biennial budget — an $800 million increase over the two-year budget period and the largest biennial increase in state funding for UW in state history. The move aims to prevent further staff and faculty layoffs, campus closures, and program cuts and consolidations.
The UW system will be submitting its biennial budget request this fall for the governor’s consideration as he prepares his 2025–27 executive budget to be introduced in early 2025.
The governor’s announcement comes as five UW branch campuses have announced closures and several UW campuses have been forced to furlough and lay off employees, shift funding or make cuts, and restructure portions of campus operations. According to the State Higher Education Finance Report, which is released by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, Wisconsin ranked 42nd for public funding for four-year colleges based on 2022 data. A report released in April 2023 by the Wisconsin Policy Forum found that the UW System ranked 43rd nationally for per-student funding in 2021.
Gov. Evers’ address to the UW System Board of Regents is available here.
