An Update on Act 15 and Core General Education Requirements

By now you’ve likely heard of Act 15, the biennial state budget that Gov. Tony Evers signed into law in July, and its provisions related to higher education. Included in the law is a requirement that “no later than September 1, 2026, all credits for core general education courses [CGER courses]… are transferable between institutions within the [Universities of Wisconsin] system and satisfy general education requirements at the receiving institution.” To comply with Act 15, the Universities of Wisconsin will need to, by the end of 2025, create a system-wide framework and approve a policy detailing how CGER courses will transfer. UW–Madison will need to create an implementation plan by December 31, 2025, and complete said implementation by September 1, 2026. As you can probably imagine, this will involve considerable effort from units all over campus, including DEM. While specific details are still being determined, to meet the deadline, implementation work needs to begin before the policy is finalized. Here’s what we can share as of late October.

What’s this about?

The provisions in Act 15 are a legislative mandate and are now law. They are designed to ensure credit transferability and consistent degree applicability across UW institutions (and beyond). Read more about the reasoning behind the provision in this Universities of Wisconsin news release.

What work will DEM need to do?

Compliance with Act 15 will involve changes to curriculum and policy. We anticipate needing to make changes to Guide and the Fall 2026 course schedule. DARS encoding will also be heavily impacted, transcript modifications will be necessary and the Course Search & Enroll app will have to include the new CGER categories. It’s possible that there are other impacts we have not yet determined.

Where do things stand?

The Universities of Wisconsin have drafted Regent Policy Document 4-X, a framework for CGER course transferability. The UWs have also created two work groups, one focused on academic affairs and the other on operations. Interim University Registrar Beth Warner is serving on the operations group. The pre-existing Transfer Policy Working Group remains, with Associate Director for Transfer Admissions & Recruitment Lori Christianson representing DEM. At UW–Madison, members of the various committees and councils focused on academics and curricular policies (i.e. UCC, UAPC, ACSL, SCIL) are being engaged to help chart a path forward. The RO is hard at work assessing and drafting recommendations for how to proceed as a campus. Stay tuned for more information as we learn more about how this will affect UW–Madison. Refer to the UWs’ Act 15 webpage for additional information.