1. UW-Madison
2. Access
3. We help students to succeed

Access to UW-Madison

We help students to succeed

UW-Madison is committed to providing the highest-quality educational experience for undergraduate students.

• We are committed to only enrolling the number of students we can support. The number of faculty, classroom spaces, advisers, residence hall rooms and other support staff determine, in large part, how many students we can enroll.
• As experiences with a larger population in the 1980s found, higher enrollments damage the overall undergraduate education, creating frustration among students, logjams for key classes and longer times to degree.
• Today, the average time to degree is shorter (4.17 years) and six-year graduation rates are higher (78 percent) than at any time in recent history.
• Nonresident students bring both financial and educational benefits to UW-Madison and the state. Nonresidents keep tuition lower for resident students, and allow UW-Madison to continue to offer a wide array of programs within current budget constraints. Nonresident students make up about 50 percent of our undergraduate tuition revenue. That’s the equivalent of a $3,000 subsidy to each Wisconsin student’s family.
• Research discoveries require expertise and collaboration — and can put Wisconsin in the spotlight. Collaboration requires diversity in experiences, viewpoints, perspectives and ideas; Wisconsin students alone cannot fill this need.
• The campus community benefits from the diversity of ideas, knowledge, geographic perspectives and opinions represented among nonresident students.

Admissions facts

• UW-Madison enrolls approximately 5,600 students in the freshman class, and a total undergraduate population of around 28,000.
• Today we receive about 11,000 more applications than we did 10 years ago, yet the number of openings must remain constant to ensure a quality experience.
• For 2006-07, a Wisconsin undergraduate will pay $6,730 for tuition and fees. A nonresident student will pay $20,730.