UW seeks free tuition for some transfer students

Blank’s plan depends on state funding

The University of Wisconsin would offer one or two years of free tuition to academically strong, first-generation college students who transfer from UW Colleges or technical college partners with associate’s degrees to UW-Madison, according to an announcement coming Thursday from Chancellor Rebecca Blank.

Blank is expected to introduce the idea at the UW Regents meeting in Madison, though it appears to come with a big question mark: Will there be funding?

The Badger First-Generation Transfer Promise Program that Blank intends to introduce in her address to the regents hinges on “sufficient” new state funding to the UW System in the 2017-’19 biennial state budget, university officials said.

The proposal doesn’t specify how much money the program would require or if the system or UW-Madison would contribute anything to the pot.

But the idea would be to offer well-qualified, first-generation Wisconsin residents transferring into UW-Madison from UW Colleges and technical colleges a guaranteed level of grant and scholarship aid to complete their bachelor’s degrees.

The transferring first-generation college students would have to earn a cumulative 3.2 grade point average by the time they earn their associate’s degrees. Qualifying transfer students would receive grants and scholarships to cover two semesters of in-state tuition (about $10,500) or, if they qualified for Pell Grants, four semesters of paid in-state tuition (almost $21,000), according to the proposal.

“We need to be a lot more intentional in making a better handoff between the two-year UW Colleges and UW-Madison,” said Steve Hahn, vice provost for enrollment management at UW-Madison.

John Lucas, assistant vice chancellor at UW-Madison, said it’s difficult to estimate the cost of the program because “we don’t know how much demand the new incentive will create ... and we don’t have a firm number for how many students will transfer under the updated terms of the contract.”

Transfer contracts

UW-Madison and the UW Colleges recently updated their transfer contracts to guarantee admittance to Madison for two-year graduates with an overall GPA of 3.2, a minimum of 54 academic credits and some specific course requirements. The GPA required for admittance to UW-Madison under the old contract was lower — a 2.8 cumulative, but students transferring from UW Colleges could have as low as a 2.0 in their final semesters, Hahn said.

“We are much more realistic about what kinds of preparation guides them toward success here,” Hahn said.

Hahn said the transfer contracts aren’t as well-known as they should be and that most two-year graduates simply apply to UW-Madison as normal transfer students and get considered as part of the wider pool. That could lower their chances of getting admitted.

Hahn stressed the updated transfer contracts would go forward regardless of whether the UW System secures funding to implement the Badger Promise. Meaning students would be admitted automatically if they transfer under the terms of the new contract, though they may not get free tuition.

UW-Madison is updating its transfer agreements with its technical college partners: Madison College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Nicolet Area Technical College and College of the Menomonie Nation.