SB 587

Under current law, eligible veterans and their eligible dependents may receive full tuition and fee remission from UW System institutions and technical college districts, minus tuition relief offsets under other state or federal programs, for up to 128 credits or eight semesters, whichever is longer. This tuition remission program is commonly referred to as the Wisconsin GI Bill. Also under current law, a sum certain of general program revenue is appropriated to the Higher Educational Aids Board to reimburse the Board of Regents and technical college district boards for the amount of tuition and fees remitted under the program. HEAB is required to prorate the reimbursements if the moneys appropriated are not sufficient to fully reimburse the Board of Regents and each district board.

This bill converts the sum certain appropriation supporting this veteran tuition remission program into a sum sufficient appropriation and repeals provisions of law that refer to insufficient funds available in the sum certain appropriation. The bill first applies to eligible students enrolled in the fall 2026 semester.