Wisconsin Universities Seeing an Increase in Out-of-State Students

Tuesday, January 10th, 2023 -- 9:00 AM

(By Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) As most University of Wisconsin System campuses grapple with consistent enrollment declines, some have increasingly relied on out-of-state students to fill the gap.

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, that's brought in more tuition revenue along with some concerns about limited access for state residents. Over the past decade, after the university system lifted caps on out-of-state enrollment, the number of freshmen from outside Wisconsin enrolling at state universities has grown by more than 63 percent.

At the same time, the number of freshmen from the Dairy State has declined by 20 percent. That shift came as Wisconsin's state universities were operating under a tuition freeze for in-state students, a freeze that does not exist for those from outside Wisconsin.

In a statement to Wisconsin Public Radio, UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch said the growth of out-of-state students is good for universities and the state. Most of the increase of new students from out of state comes from UW-Madison.

The number of new freshmen categorized as nonresidents at the flagship university more than doubled from 1,997 in 2012 to 4,033 last year. During the same span, the number of freshmen from Wisconsin grew by 227 or 6.4 percent.

Other schools like UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stout and UW-Oshkosh have seen enrollments of nonresident freshmen grow by between 45 percent and 110 percent, though overall numbers are a fraction of those at Madison. 

More nonresident students means more revenue for all state universities that were barred by state lawmakers from raising residential undergraduate tuition for nearly a decade.

The freeze was lifted in 2021, but UW System officials haven't proposed increasing what undergraduate students from Wisconsin pay. That's saved students and families money, while driving universities to pull from tuition fund balances to keep up with rising costs.

With no restrictions on nonresident rates, universities like UW-Madison have increased tuition for students from outside Wisconsin. Annual tuition for nonresidents at UW-Madison is $37,904, four times higher than the $9,273 sticker price for Wisconsin students.

The growth of nonresident students at UW-Madison accelerated after the UW System Board of Regents tweaked caps on out-of-state enrollment at the campus in 2015 and again in 2019.

A 2018 blog post by former UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank estimated that would mean around $16 million in additional tuition revenue over two years. She said that could be used to fund new faculty and staff positions along with funds for student programs and experiences.

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