Bucky’s Tuition Promise boosts retention rate for lower-income students, long-term study finds

A flagship financial aid program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that provides generous support to in-state students from low- to moderate-income families increases student retention by several percentage points, according to new research.

The study, published this month in the Peabody Journal of Education, is the first to assess the long-term outcomes of Bucky's Tuition Promise, which began in 2018.

"This finding is the latest evidence that Bucky's Tuition Promise is having a positive effect on student success and on the university as a whole," says Scott Owczarek, interim vice provost for enrollment management at UW-Madison. "Bucky's Tuition Promise was designed to make an education at the state's flagship public university more affordable and accessible for Wisconsin students. It is doing that while also helping to ensure that our state's top students stay in Wisconsin and contribute their talents and their skills to our campus and our communities."

Bucky's Tuition Promise, named for UW-Madison's beloved mascot, guarantees four years of tuition and segregated fees for any incoming freshman from Wisconsin whose family's annual household adjusted gross income is $65,000 or less. (The figure was $56,000 the first year, roughly the state's median household income at the time.) Transfer students from Wisconsin can qualify for up to two years of funding.

Prior research has shown that being eligible for Bucky's Tuition Promise increases the probability that a low- to moderate-income student from Wisconsin will accept an enrollment offer from UW-Madison. The new study looks at what happens to the students once they arrive on campus.

"We wanted to make sure that this program wasn't just bringing students to campus but that those students went on to have successful college careers here," says Amberly Dziesinski, the study's author and a research analyst in UW-Madison's Student Success Through Applied Research (SSTAR) Lab. The SSTAR Lab was instrumental in helping to develop Bucky's Tuition Promise.

To determine if differences in student retention rates are caused by Bucky's Tuition Promise, Dziesinski compared students closest to either side of the income eligibility threshold. One set of students qualified for the program. The other set - the control group - just missed the income eligibility cutoff. For research purposes, the students in these two groups could be considered quite similar, save for the "intervention" of Bucky's Tuition Promise.

Dziesinski found that the retention rate going into the second year for Bucky's Tuition Promise students close to the eligibility threshold was 96.6%, compared to 93.4% for the control group of ineligible students, a difference of about three percentage points.

"This difference held up to rigorous statistical testing, to the point that we can say the difference is caused by Bucky's Tuition Promise," Dziesinski says.

A difference of three percentage points is especially significant at an institution such as UW-Madison, where retention rates are already very high across the board, she says.

Dziesinski also was curious how the retention rate for Bucky's Tuition Promise students compared to a broader slice of the student body. She compared a sample of 1,300 Bucky's Tuition Promise recipients with 1,912 non-recipients with family incomes below $120,000. Even compared to students from a wider array of economic backgrounds, Bucky's Tuition Promise recipients had a higher second-year retention rate (95.8% compared to 94.9% for non-recipients).

"Overall, it's really promising to see that new populations of students who were brought to campus through Bucky's Tuition Promise are succeeding at such high rates," she says.

Dziesinski also looked at graduation rates and debt load for Bucky's Tuition Promise recipients compared to those who just missed the eligibility cutoff. The results were encouraging but less conclusive; more research is needed, she says.

Dziesinski's research was supported by the nonprofit organization Ithaka S+R and the American Talent Initiative's Student Success Research Grant Program.

Eligibility for Bucky's Tuition Promise is straightforward. It is based solely on one line from a family's federal income tax return. There is no separate application process: The award is automatic to eligible students based on information they provide through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The program guarantees aid for all applicable years based on first-year eligibility, even if a family's income changes.

Bucky's Tuition Promise is a last-dollar program, meaning all other gifts and scholarships are applied to a student's tuition bill first. The university then backfills the difference to make the tuition balance zero. The university's portion comes from donations and other university resources. No state taxpayer money is used.

UW-Madison now has two additional major financial aid initiatives that benefit Wisconsin residents. Bucky's Pell Pathway, added in 2023, is an even more robust complement to Bucky's Tuition Promise. Designed to assist Badgers from low-income Wisconsin households who qualify for Federal Pell Grants, it pledges to meet the full financial need without loans for incoming first-year students for four consecutive years and for transfer students for two consecutive years. In most cases, it covers tuition and fees, housing expenses, food, required course material, travel and other miscellaneous costs.

The Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise Program, announced in 2023, offers financial support to cover the full cost of pursuing an undergraduate degree for state residents who are enrolled members of federally recognized Wisconsin Indian tribes.

As with Bucky's Tuition Promise, the university's funding for these initiatives comes from donations and other UW­­-Madison resources. No state taxpayer money is used.