The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has approved a tuition freeze for all students. Thursday’s vote went beyond a mandate included in the recently signed state budget, which directed the UW to hold the line on tuition only for in-state students, by also applying the freeze to out-of-state and graduate students.

UW System spokesman David Giroux says the board decided it was in the best interest of all campuses to freeze those rates together. He says one of the reasons behind that decision is that the System wants to be able to attract students from outside of Wisconsin, who pay a higher tuition rate and help cover the costs of educating native Wisconsin students.

AUDIO: David Giroux (:36)

Under the freeze, the average in-state student tuition on a four year campus for the upcoming school year will be $6,939. Although, with some student fee and housing increases factored in, those students will be paying closer to an average of $8,000.

At the UW-Madison, the state’s flagship campus, in-state undergraduate students will pay $9,273 and non-resident undergrads will be charged $25,523.

Regents had originally proposed a two percent tuition hike for the upcoming school year, but state lawmakers mandated the freeze after it was discovered the UW had built up a $650 million budget surplus while raising tuition in recent years.

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