At its March 2023 meeting, the UW System Board of Regents approved an increase in the amount of differential tuition charged to engineering undergraduates. Here are a few important facts to know.
Cost
Differential tuition will increase from $700 per semester to $1,000 per semester, beginning with the 2023-24 academic year.
In many cases, we anticipate that support from scholarships, need-based financial aid and other funds will help defray or offset these increases.
Benefits
As is the case in top engineering colleges across the nation, including many in the Big Ten, differential tuition allows the College of Engineering to enhance your Badger engineering education and help you stay on track. Essentially, we reinvest in you. Differential tuition funds the people who support and teach you, and enables us to provide you with relevant courses, modern facilities, diverse opportunities, and real experiences that prepare you to be outstanding engineers.
Here are some ways we’ve applied differential tuition:
- Enhanced support services such as undergraduate advising, career services and tutoring.
- Hired additional faculty and instructors.
- Added more sections in high-demand classes, increasing access to required courses.
- Expanded course offerings and academic programs to focus on high-impact and emerging technology areas.
- Created and upgraded undergraduate teaching, study, instructional laboratory and fabrication spaces.
Background
The College of Engineering first began charging engineering differential tuition in 2008; it was phased in over a period of three years. Since 2010, engineering differential tuition has remained at $700 per semester.
Now, more than a decade later, college leadership communicated closely with members of the Wisconsin Engineering Student Council (WESC), engineering members of the Associated Students of Madison (ASM), and engineering student organization leaders to convey the need for a differential tuition increase. College leaders also shared information about the proposed increase during open forum meetings with engineering students. This dialog will continue: The College of Engineering dean will continue to provide reports on the college budget, including how differential tuition funds are used, to WESC, ASM and engineering student organization leaders, and during general engineering student forums. Additionally, WESC and ASM engineering members will share engineering student input with the college dean about future areas of differential tuition investment.