{"id":12234,"date":"2025-04-23T10:32:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T15:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=12234"},"modified":"2025-04-23T10:32:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T15:32:50","slug":"buckys-tuition-promise-makes-college-dreams-come-true-for-wisconsin-families","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/buckys-tuition-promise-makes-college-dreams-come-true-for-wisconsin-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucky’s Tuition Promise makes college dreams come true for Wisconsin families"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

As students arrive for the school day in Mackenzie Straub\u2019s third-grade classroom in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, they check in on a large, interactive screen that includes a photo of their teacher and another notable: Bucky Badger.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a nod to Straub\u2019s fond feelings toward her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison.<\/p>\n

Straub earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in early childhood education from the UW\u2013Madison School of Education in 2021. She now teaches in the same school district \u2014 and in the same school building \u2014 where she once attended third grade.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a full-circle moment for Straub, one of many for the second-generation Door County resident. Her daily life abounds with the kinds of deep connections forged in small towns across the state.<\/p>\n

Community members swooped in to support Straub when, at age 13, she lost her father, Gary, the owner of a local clothing store. His death, from esophageal cancer, upended the family\u2019s financial situation. Affording college became questionable for Straub, but as she approached the end of her senior year of high school, UW\u2013Madison unveiled an initiative intended to help students just like her.<\/p>\n

When announced in 2018,\u00a0Bucky\u2019s Tuition Promise<\/a>\u00a0pledged to cover four years of tuition and segregated fees for any incoming freshman from Wisconsin whose family\u2019s annual household adjusted gross income was $56,000 or less. The figure has since been raised to $65,000 \u2014 roughly the state\u2019s median family income, meaning half of all Wisconsin families qualify.<\/p>\n

Transfer students who are Wisconsin residents and who meet the same income criteria receive two years of free tuition and segregated fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my husband died, our future changed dramatically,\u201d says Carol Straub, Mackenzie\u2019s mother, adding that they had to close the family business when he became too ill to work. \u201cWe no longer had his income. Bucky\u2019s Tuition Promise was a huge stress relief. We\u2019ll forever be grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Teacher
Mackenzie Straub teaches third-grade children in their classroom at Gibraltar Elementary School.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A head start on life<\/h2>\n

Mackenzie Straub is a graduate of the\u00a0first cohort of students<\/a>\u00a0to receive Bucky\u2019s Tuition Promise. Hundreds of recipients have now earned degrees from UW\u2013Madison and are starting their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt alleviated so many financial burdens,\u201d Straub says. \u201cI still worked during the summers, but the idea of being able to focus solely on school during the academic year was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The benefits of Bucky\u2019s Tuition Promise continue to reverberate in Straub\u2019s life. She was able to graduate with no student debt \u2014 now the case for 66.3% of all UW\u2013Madison undergraduates. That gave Straub a head start on many more of life\u2019s milestones. She was able to quickly pursue an online master\u2019s degree from Concordia University, thereby boosting her teacher\u2019s salary. And recently, she and her husband, Andrew, who works at a nearby cherry orchard, built a house kitty-corner from her mom\u2019s residence. For Straub, this will always be home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bringing success back to communities<\/h2>\n

UW\u2013Madison now has three major financial aid initiatives that benefit Wisconsin residents.\u00a0Bucky\u2019s Pell Pathway<\/a>, added in 2023, is an even more robust complement to Bucky\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise Program<\/a>, announced\u202fby Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin\u202fin 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.<\/p>\n

Together, these three initiatives have benefitted more than 8,000 students from Wisconsin over the past seven years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these financial aid initiatives embody the Wisconsin Idea,\u201d says Derek Kindle, UW\u2013Madison\u2019s vice provost for enrollment management. \u201cThey show that when our talented Wisconsin students get the chance to succeed at UW\u2013Madison, they do. And after graduation, many of them bring that success back to their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The programs are supported by private donations and other institutional resources, not taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Group
Straub sits with her third-grade students in their classroom at Gibraltar Elementary School.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The cycle of opportunity<\/h2>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget to turn in your homework,\u201d Straub tells her 10 students as they arrive on a recent February morning. (Two are out sick \u2014 it\u2019s the cold and flu season.)<\/p>\n

Unprompted, third-grader Luca Torcivia tells a classroom visitor that Straub is the best teacher ever. \u201cShe\u2019s super nice. At the start of the year, she gave us candy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straub says it was always her goal to return to her hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this place so much,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s great to be able to run into my students when I\u2019m out in the community \u2014 at the grocery store or at sports events. When you live in a community like this, you just know everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jodi Hoyerman, left, and Straub talk about their past and current connections at Gibraltar Elementary School.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Straub\u2019s first-grade teacher, Jodi Hoyerman, still teaches in the district \u2014 her classroom is just across from Straub\u2019s. Principal Lauren Ward, who will start a PhD program at UW\u2013Madison this fall, taught high school English to Straub. Straub\u2019s mother, a substitute teacher in the district, often works near her daughter.<\/p>\n

Straub and her husband are expecting their first child in April. A future Badger? Possibly, Straub says. Bucky\u2019s Tuition Promise already has given her unborn daughter a gift, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m able to start saving for her college education.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Written by Doug Erickson. Photos by Jeff Miller.<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/impact.wisc.edu\/buckys-tuition-promise-at-uw-madison-makes-college-dreams-come-true-for-thousands-of-wisconsin-families<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As students arrive for the school day in Mackenzie Straub\u2019s third-grade classroom in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, they check in on a large, interactive screen that includes a photo of their teacher and another notable: Bucky Badger. It\u2019s a nod to Straub\u2019s fond feelings toward her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison. Straub earned a bachelor\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":12237,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[103],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-12234","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-madison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/12234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=12234"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=12234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}