The plateau
Undergraduate tuition is charged per credit up to 12 credits, then flat from 12 to 18 — so a student taking 15 or 16 credits pays the same as one taking 12. Beyond 18 credits, per-credit charges resume. This is deliberate: it means finishing in four years by carrying a full load costs no more per term than going slower.
Textbooks are in it
The required textbook for almost every undergraduate course is rented to you through the Instructional Resources Service, and the cost is inside your fees. A student elsewhere spends several hundred dollars a term on books; a Porter student picks them up and returns them. Consumables you write in or keep — lab manuals, some access codes, art and shop supplies — are still yours to buy.
A computer is in it
Every full-time undergraduate is issued a university-managed laptop specced for their program, with the licensed software their courses require, on a refresh cycle that replaces it once during a typical degree. The cost is spread across tuition and fees rather than landing as a first-week purchase.
The segregated fees
A separate line, segregated fees, funds the things students voted to fund and use in common: the Forge Recreation Center, health and counseling services, the fare-free Porter Loop shuttle, student government and organizations, and campus technology. They are close to the same for every full-time student and are set through a student-led process each year.
What is not included
Housing and dining if you live on campus (billed by term), course fees on labs and studios with real material costs, a few upper-level or graduate courses that use materials outside the rental system, personal expenses, and transportation. The cost-of-attendance page lists the full estimated budget.
Residency and rates
Wesconsin residents pay the resident rate; students from Minnesota qualify for a reciprocity rate; other non-residents pay the non-resident rate, with some regional and program exceptions. Your rate is set at admission based on documented residency and can be appealed to the Registrar if your situation changes.
Reading it against net price
Tuition and fees are the sticker inputs. What you actually pay is net price — those charges minus the grants and scholarships in your aid offer. Compare schools on net price, and factor in that at Porter the "extras" line for books and a computer is already zero.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.