Would the UW System’s $855 million budget request bring Wisconsin closer to the national average?

State funding for the University of Wisconsin System was one of the biggest budget battles in 2023, and it’s looking as if 2025 will be no different. 

The UW System is asking for $855 million from the state Legislature in the upcoming two-year state budget, which lawmakers will craft in the coming months.

In November, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Republicans, who control the Legislature, would not give that large of an amount to the system. "That’s probably not going to happen," Vos told WISN-TV’s "Upfront." 

Appearing Dec. 1 on "Upfront," UW System President Jay Rothman was asked to respond to Vos saying the system was "(asking) for the moon" and "unrealistic." 

"I look at it from this perspective," Rothman said. "Right now, the Universities of Wisconsin are 43rd out of 50 states in the nation, in terms of public support for our universities. The $855 million gets us up to average."

Rothman said that amount will help universities keep tuition at current levels and keep remaining branch campuses open.

"That’s a reasonable ask," he said.

Let’s examine Rothman’s claim in two parts. 

First, does Wisconsin rank 43rd in funding for its public university system?

And second, would that $855 million bring Wisconsin closer to the middle of the pack?

PolitiFact Wisconsin contacted the UW System to ask where Rothman got his numbers. Media Relations Director Mark Pitsch pointed us to the State Higher Education Finance report. 

The national report, produced by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, accounts for fiscal year 2023. A chart in the report shows total education revenue per full-time equivalent student — a number that represents tuition dollars plus state support. That’s how the association defines "public funding." 

The UW System operated under a tuition freeze, as required by the state, for 10 years, Pitsch noted.

Wisconsin did land at 43rd in that chart. Only Nevada, Louisiana, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida, California and Arkansas provided less per student.

Another report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, released in spring 2023, cited the same, 43rd ranking.

PolitiFact Wisconsin reported on this data before, when we checked Democrats’ claims that Republicans were to blame for that low ranking. 

So, the first part of Rothman’s argument is right. Wisconsin does rank 43rd, providing less funding for public, four-year colleges than most other states.

Now, let’s get into the second part of Rothman’s argument: That the UW System’s budget request would bring Wisconsin toward the middle. 

Pitsch laid out the UW System’s math for us. Of the $855 million the system is asking for, $398 million of that would come in the first year of the two-year budget, and $457 million would come in the second. 

The system was "intentional" in requesting that $457 million in the second year, Pitsch said, "as a conservative way of getting ‘up to the middle.’" 

That same chart in the state-by-state report that we looked at before — total education revenue per student — says that number is $17,031 in Wisconsin.

The middle of the chart shows the national average, which is $20,373. 

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The difference between those two numbers is $3,342 per student, Pitsch said. 

Multiplying that number by the total enrollment in the system in 2023 — 136,641 students — gets you $456.65 million. 

Rounding up, that’s the $457 million the system wants in the second year. So, Rothman is correct that the system’s request for the second year would bring Wisconsin up to average. 

Of course, that’s assuming the difference gets made up entirely through funding from the state, rather than through tuition increases. Rothman has said he doesn’t plan to recommend tuition hikes over the next two years.

Rothman said the $855 million "gets us up to average" on "Upfront," but elsewhere he’s made clear that an additional $457 million annually — the phased in request for the second year — is what would help Wisconsin get there.

The system is actually asking for less than that — $398 million — in the first of the two years.

Although that may need a little clarification, the heart of Rothman’s claim, and the system’s math, checks out. 

Rothman defended his agency’s $855 million budget request by saying it "gets (Wisconsin) up to average" and steps up from its low ranking.

He is correct that Wisconsin ranks 43rd in the country when it comes to funding public, four-year universities. 

Rothman’s math also adds up. Subtracting Wisconsin’s revenue per student from the national average, then multiplying it by the total number of students in the system, does total $457 million. 

The UW System said asking for that number in the second year of the budget was deliberate on their part, and the system is actually asking for $59 million less than that in the first year.

We rate Rothman’s claim True.