Sweeping UW proposal would merge campuses
Plan would cluster 2- and 4-year schools in regions
University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross is expected to announce this week a sweeping proposal to restructure two- and fouryear campuses in an effort to cut costs, increase college access, reduce barriers to transferring credits, raise graduation rates, and address declining enrollments, according to sources. Demographics show nearly 95% of Wisconsin’s population growth will be people age 65 and older by 2040, while those in the labor force ages 18 to 64 will only increase 0.4%.
The UW’s 13 two-year campuses have been hit especially hard by shifting demographics and economic factors, and have seen their enrollment drop 32% since 2010, based on preliminary fall 2017 numbers. Declining enrollments have meant a loss of millions in tuition
and fee revenues.
Cross originally planned to publicly announce a proposed structure change related to the system’s fouryear universities and two-year colleges on Thursday and to brief campus officials and employees in advance on Wednesday.
But word about the conference call leaked outside the UW System on Monday. UW System spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis declined to comment or provide details of the proposal on Tuesday because she said it was important that employees be told first.
According to sources, the proposal aims to leverage resources and share talent at institutions to further streamline the path from a two-year degree to a fouryear degree. Current tuition levels at the two-year campuses would be maintained so more students can access college.
Sources said the proposal does not include closing any campuses. It would cluster two-year schools and four-year schools within regions. For example, UWWaukesha would become a branch of UW-Milwaukee.
On the cost side, students would save by spending their first two years at a UW College then transferring to a four-year campus because UW Colleges charge about half the tuition of a four-year campus. Streamlining administration of campuses theoretically also cuts the cost of providing an education.
The proposal would go to the UW Board of Regents for approval before moving forward. The UW System has 13 two-year colleges and 13 four-year universities.
At the state Capitol Tuesday for a series of unrelated meetings, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said that UW System officials had spoken with her about the change, but she deferred to them for comment.
“I have talked with them about this but this is really theirs to speak to, not mine,” Blank told a reporter. “I’m very excited about the prospects for us coming out of this but I can’t speak to (it).”
Raising graduation rates despite stagnant state funding has become something of a holy grail in higher education, according to an analysis of the trend earlier this year by the Huffington Post. A shift in demographics means fewer teenagers for colleges to recruit, and declining tuition revenue as a result.
Many states, like Wisconsin, have pledged to increase their number of residents with college degrees, while state funding has either been stagnant or cut since the Great Recession. Those pressures are leading to rethinking how higher education is delivered.
Currently, 26% of Wisconsin adults have a college degree; the national average is 28%. An estimated 700,000 to 1 million Wisconsin residents have some college credit but no degree.
One high-profile effort to boost the number of college degree holders in Wisconsin started in 2013, when the UW System became perhaps the first public university system in the nation to roll out a set of 100% competency-based online degree programs for working adults through UW-Milwaukee and the two-year UW Colleges.
Other four-year campuses and the UW-Extension have since added more competency-based online degree programs. And the Legislature is requiring the UW System to double the current eight degree programs on a fast track.
Enrollment trends within UW Colleges vary by campus.
UW-Marathon County and UW-Marshfield in northern Wisconsin have seen big drops, Cathy Sandeen, chancellor of UW Colleges and UW-Extension, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week. As a result, six faculty members there were transferred to other campuses with higher teaching workloads. Some went to 50% or 100% teaching online.
Overall, the UW System expects to be down 2,500 students from a year ago.