Admission to University of Wisconsin System institutions, the official text

2025 - 2026 LEGISLATURE
LRB-5855/1
ARG:skw

2025 ASSEMBLY BILL 1005
February 3, 2026 - Introduced by Representatives Gustafson, Murphy, O'Connor, Brill and Dittrich, cosponsored by Senator Testin. Referred to Committee on Colleges and Universities.

An Act to amend 36.11 (3) (a); to create 36.11 (3r) of the statutes; relating to: admission to University of Wisconsin System institutions.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Current law requires the University of Wisconsin System to establish a guaranteed admission program. Under this program, Wisconsin high school students who rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class, or in the top 5 percent for UW–Madison, are generally eligible for guaranteed admission. A student’s class rank is based solely on the student’s grade point average.
This bill requires undergraduate admission decisions at UW System institutions to be predominantly based on college entrance examination performance or similar objective testing measures, except with respect to applicants admitted through the guaranteed admission program.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. 36.11 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
36.11 (3) (a) Subject to sub. subs. (3m) and (3r), the board shall establish the policies for admission within the system and within these policies each institution
shall establish specific requirements for admission to its courses of instruction. No sectarian or partisan tests or any tests based upon race, religion, national origin of U.S. citizens or sex shall ever be allowed in the admission of students thereto.
Section 2. 36.11 (3r) of the statutes is created to read:
36.11 (3r) Objective criteria for admission. (a) In this subsection, “college entrance examination” means the ACT, as defined in s. 39.41 (9) (a) 1., the SAT, as defined in s. 39.41 (9) (a) 3., or a similar national or regional test for measuring college readiness.
(b) The board shall ensure that undergraduate admission decisions at each institution are predominantly based on college entrance examination performance or similar objective testing measures. This paragraph does not apply with respect to applicants admitted through the guaranteed admission program under sub. (3m).
Section 3. Initial applicability.
(1) This act first applies to applications for admission for the 2027-28 academic year.
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