L&S Graduate Admissions: Planning Exercise & Template
Annual Exercise Form
Each year, L&S completes an exercise to track long-term funding commitments extended to incoming graduate students.
Form: L&S Graduate Admissions Planning Exercise AY26-27
For AY26-27, the exercise is due Mon, Dec 15, 2025.
Funding Commitment Offer Letter
For AY26-27, L&S will review funding commitment offer letter templates from all departments. Note that you do not need to submit letters that will go to individual students, but rather a departmental template that individual letters will be based on.
Departments may:
- Use the L&S template letter (available below). Make the adjustments noted in the template, such as including your department's standard appointment %. Submit the letter via the online form.
- Use their own department letter. These letters will need to be submitted via the online form. You must wait for review and approval before sending out to prospective students. When writing your own letter, be sure to review the guidelines for funding commitment offer letters.
L&S template letter for new incoming students:
Letters for Continuing Students
Continuing students need written assurance each spring that the department intends to continue their existing support guarantee the following year (provided they continue to perform well both academically and in any assigned duties). If such assurance is provided in appointment letters or via some other means, a designated "continuing support guarantee letter" is not necessary; however, a template for such a letter is provided here if departments find it useful.
L&S Template letter for continuing students:
Annual Graduate Admissions Planning Exercise
The online AY26-27 Graduate Admissions Planning Exercise is due Mon Dec 15, 2025.
Form: L&S Graduate Admissions Planning Exercise AY26-27
The form includes the following questions:
Your Name
Your Department
Program (note: if your department houses more than one graduate degree program, please submit the form multiple times)
Current year information (please provide each answer as a number only):
Number of offers made to incoming students for AY25-26
Number of offers accepted by incoming students for AY25-26
Some departments rescinded offers of guaranteed support. How many of the AY25-26 accepted offers came without a guarantee?
Offers planned for the coming year (AY26-27):
Number of admissions offers with a funding commitment you plan to make to incoming students:
Both L&S and the Graduate School generally expect all offers of admission to be accompanied by a funding commitment. If you will be making any offers of admission without a funding commitment, please explain:
Target cohort size:
Funding Commitment Offer Letter Plans:
Upload your departmental funding commitment template letter(s) for new incoming graduate students.
Note: please upload template letter(s) - you do not need to submit individual letters you will send to individual students.
L&S Contact
Questions about graduate funding commitment offers should be directed to Lynne Prost (lprost@wisc.edu), Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Academic Affairs.