The Board of Regents unanimously passed a 2027-2033 budget plan and biennial 2027-2029 budget request Aug. 20, requesting funding for a new University of Wisconsin-Madison residence hall and a two-year tuition freeze for in-state students across the UW System.
The biennium request consists of a $730 million operating budget — including an additional $260 million for UW-Madison — along with a $2 billion capital budget across the UW System, including construction for UW-Madison’s long-awaited residence hall and $417 million in state funding to demolish the Mosse Humanities building. Sometime after the general election on Nov. 3, the newly elected governor and legislature will consider the proposal.
In addition to the two-year tuition freeze, the Board of Regents proposed capping tuition increases at the inflation rate for the two subsequent years.
A new residence hall, repairs in the capital budget
Within the Regents’ proposal, UW-Madison’s new residence hall would provide approximately 2,000 new student beds, along with dining facilities, study areas and common spaces. The State of Wisconsin Department of Administration requested contractor proposals for the new residence hall earlier this summer.
Tom Bittner, the UW System Capital Budget and Planning Director, said UW-Madison university housing is currently operating at around 114% occupancy during the capital planning committee session. Though the university has no first-year residency requirement, university housing is still a popular choice among undergraduates and for years across existing residence halls, study lounges have been converted to quads and doubles to triples to accommodate more people.
Additionally, the Regents allocated funding for adding capacity to Slichter Residence Hall and renovating the Agricultural Dean’s residence into office space for University Housing.
They also supported demolishing and centralizing UW-Madison’s environmental health and safety waste management facility, which Bittner said currently doesn’t meet EPA standards. The relocation includes the addition of a hazardous waste processing laboratory and new waste processing equipment, Bittner said at the meeting.
The Regents asked for funding to renovate the current Music Hall, which will be renamed to Herb Kohl Hall and serve as an educational home for the La Follette School of Public Affairs. The expansion adds classrooms, study areas, collaboration space, gathering areas and offices to the new home of the La Follette school, which recently announced its first major: public policy.
The Regents also requested funding for replacing parts in UW-Madison’s Linden Drive utility tunnel which currently range from 60 to over 90 years in age. They also announced a system-wide project for central plant and utility distribution, creating a long-term roadmap for generating and distributing energy.
The budget request would also fund the American Family Children’s Hospital parking garage expansion in Madison, which Bittner said frequently meets capacity. The Regents allocated $17 million for migrating UW-Madison’s existing Research and Administrative Data Center in Fitchburg to an existing hosting environment in Milwaukee meeting LEED Gold standards by December 2027.
Overall, Bittner said universities have submitted $9.975 billion in capital planning requests over the six-year horizon, and around $6.005 billion of the requests have been included in the final Board of Regents request.
During the summer, a pipe leak led to a months-long campus cooling issue at UW-Madison. At the Board of Regents meeting, Bittner said the Regents are in “ongoing conversations with the state about how to pay for those repairs,” which could include a reprioritization of projects.
Three promises for Wisconsinites in operating budget: affordability, less debt, better healthcare
In the operating budget, the Regents’ Work and Learn proposal would provide “last-dollar financial aid,” covering tuition and segregated for working students from households with incomes below the state median for $50 million.
The Regents also plan to fund a system-wide Veterans Tuition Remission program seeking full reimbursement of tuition remission for veterans and their dependents, as well as educate 35,000 medical professionals through the UW System over the next 10 years through a Healthy Wisconsin initiative.
Overall, the Regents estimated their $90 million Tech for Tomorrow and $50 million Accelerate Wisconsin entrepreneurship and upskilling initiatives will create 2,500 new businesses, upskill one million workers and produce 300,000 graduates over the next 10 years.
The operating budget also includes a $45 million annual request for UW System artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure — building sovereign AI and granting “coverage for UW faculty, staff, and students to access the leading AI tools currently available, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and specialized AI platforms, at a level beyond the free versions available to the general public,” according to the Business and Finance Committee meeting notes.
Sonia Bendre is the campus news editor for The Daily Cardinal. You can reach her at sonia.bendre@dailycardinal.com.
