University of Wisconsin-Whitewater officials are starting to make progress toward fulfilling the requirements outlined in Wisconsin Act 15.
The act, which is Wisconsin’s 2025-27 biennial budget, details several changes to the structure of the University of Wisconsin System, including financial and academic revisions aimed at increasing consistency across universities. Only a couple of these alterations will impact UW-Whitewater.
First, the university will receive approximately $12.2 million of the $256 million allocation outlined in the act. The system allocation is the largest increase in support in over two decades.
“We are grateful to the governor for his steadfast championing of the UWs and greatly appreciate the work of legislative leadership on both sides of the aisle in a clear recognition that in the UWs, Wisconsin has an extraordinary asset that can benefit everyone’s future,” Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said in a report to the Board of Regents in July 2025.
Executive Director for University Marketing and Communications Jeff Angileri says that this allocation will be used to fund student mental health services, enrollment initiatives, general operations, the employee pay plan and compensation for faculty members in high-demand areas.
With the increase in funding, UW-W will adopt a 5% increase in tuition for the 2026-27 school year. This increase would make in-state tuition $859 and out-of-state tuition $1,364.
The second major change coming to UW-W, as detailed in Act 15, is an overhaul of the general education system. General education will see more consistency and standardization across the UW System, a change that knocks out the former idea that it was up to the discretion of individual universities.
“UW-Whitewater faculty and staff participated in working groups coordinated by the Universities of Wisconsin to ensure compliance with the Act 15 requirements related to this topic,” Angileri said. “Once the working groups determined a statewide structure of six general education categories, UW-Whitewater faculty worked to ensure our courses aligned with the six categories.”
The UW System identifies the six categories of general education as mathematics and quantitative reasoning, communication and literacy, social and behavior sciences, humanities and arts, natural science and wellness, and civics and perspectives. These classes add up to 35 general education credits, down from the previous 40 to 49 credits.
A major reason for these changes is to make it easier for transfer students to seamlessly send credits from one UW school to another.
“UW-Whitewater has had a longstanding, robust core general education curriculum that employers and alumni tell us provides a foundation of life and career success,” Angileri said. “Act 15 ensures students can automatically transfer credits between universities, helping transfer students with affordability and faster time to degree completion.”
Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Robin Fox mentioned at the 2026 State of the University address that this consistency was also outlined in the university’s 2023-30 strategic plan.
“The actions related to transfer pathways, which have seen significant work in helping students take courses in high school, maybe go to a technical college and then come to either the Rock Campus or the main campus. There’s always more work that could be done in those spaces,” Fox said.
The act also provides new credit requirements for UW System faculty. Non-research universities like UW-W will require educational staff on 12-month contracts to teach 24 credits every year, including six in the summer, while research universities will require professors to teach 12 credit hours with three additional summer credits.
Fortunately for UW-W, the university is already in compliance with these new requirements. University instructional employees are on nine-month contracts.
Overall, Wisconsin Act 15 is a crucial step in providing consistency across all UW System schools.
