Rebuild the Badgers, Not Just the Roster
How Wisconsin fell behind in college football's new market, and how to make the rebuild last
Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy
How Wisconsin fell behind in college football's new market, and how to make the rebuild last
Most colleges don’t have Harvard’s admissions problem. At Harvard, seats are scarce. At many colleges and programs, the scarce thing is the student.
Wisconsin remains near the bottom nationally in its four-year-to-two-year funding ratio under alternative measures of enrollment.
Wisconsin ranks 7th nationally in public support per student for its technical colleges—and 43rd for its universities.
It is a budget story. WI competes in markets with a budget model built for a slower world. The state effectively constrains what the university can charge and directly limits what it can borrow.
UW–Madison is a top research university charging a resident price that ranks 12th-lowest of the 38 public AAU universities, because for a decade that price was frozen by political decision.
Wisconsin football posted back-to-back losing seasons (5-7, 4-8) for the first time since 1991-92. We trace the collapse to the NIL era's structural transformation — and the economic effects are already emerging in Dane County.
College functions as both investment and consumption good. The report evaluates why 90-credit pathways deliver strong returns while respecting families who prioritize earnings over full residential experience.
Headline rankings got it wrong. UW-Madison crushes in majors that actually pay: #1 in Wisconsin in all 15 fields over $96k, and leads 48 of 72 overall.
UW-Madison’s Badger Football program serves as a critical revenue engine for the Athletics Department, generating roughly $60 million in annual profits. Yet, its on-field performance has declined sharply.