Thanks to a decade of beefing up recruitment, more Illinois students are crossing the border to enjoy lower tuition at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Just 30 minutes from the Iowa and Illinois borders and two hours from the quad cities, Illinois students make up 16 percent of the incoming class of Platteville freshman this year — up from just 8 percent 10 years ago.
Through the university’s Tri-State Initiative, students from Illinois and Iowa get discounted tuition. While they pay about $4,000 more than in-state residents, the total annual price tag is just $18,374. With tuition and fees coming in at $12,184, the price appeals to anyone who sees Illinois in-state rates and gets sticker shock. The average cost of tuition for residents is $13,660 at Illinois State University and ranges from $15,700 to $20,700 at the University of Illinois.
“We’ve been actively recruiting in Illinois for a little over 10 years now,” Paul Erickson, public information officer for UW-Platteville, recently told Rock Island Today.
The program, which started in the 2004-05 academic year, includes a $1,000 grant for admitted students from Iowa and Illinois. It has been very successful and seems to have worked for a few reasons, Erickson said. For one, the region around the school in Wisconsin is seeing declining high school enrollment, leading the state and the university looking outside the usual geographic boxes for students who will get degrees in majors that will benefit the workforce, including science, technology, engineering and math, criminal justice, agriculture and business.
Wisconsin isn’t the only one to benefit, since not every student who moves to the state to attend school will ultimately stay.
“It’s also benefitting the tri-state area,” Erickson said, adding that the UW-Platteville feels a sense of duty to help the entire region.
Additionally, drawing students from larger cities in Illinois has brought greater diversity to the rural southwestern corner of Wisconsin.
The tuition is a win-win, Erickson said.
As universities face budgets that include smaller contributions from their respective states, many have ramped up out-of-state recruitment, bringing in more students who pay higher prices for tuition. Lucky for Illinois students and Platteville administrators, a high price in Wisconsin is far cheaper than the home-state alternative.
As part of a stopgap budget approved in July, the University of Illinois will get roughly $350 million this fiscal year — about half of what it received in fiscal year 2015, which was the last time a full budget was approved. Universities received only partial funding last fiscal year.
In May, the Illinois State University board of trustees approved a 3 percent tuition hike for this year.
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