We must revamp the UW Colleges

I recently announced a proposal to join the UW Colleges with our four-year comprehensive and research institutions, as well as move University of Wisconsin-Extension divisions to UW -Madison and UW System administration. The Board of Regents will consider the proposal this week and will vote on whether we can proceed with planning.

We must integrate campuses, and it is crucial that we move forward quickly.

Simply put: Our current model is not sustainable. We have discussed the demographic, enrollment and access issues for quite a while — both internally and externally.

It is time to move from concept to action.

Our students and families must have access to an affordable education, and we must maintain a UW presence in these communities.

Demographics: By 2040, nearly 95% of Wisconsin’s total population growth will be age 65 and older. Conversely, those age 18-64 will only grow about 1%.

We will have fewer working-age adults, and we will need more of them to be college-educated. A Georgetown study projects that nearly 62% of jobs by 2020 will demand some post-secondary education. There are fewer students entering the education pipeline, while the demand for college-educated workers is growing significantly.

Enrollment: UW Colleges’ enrollment declined 32% overall in the past seven years, and several campuses experienced declines up to 50%. UW Colleges enacted major reforms and restructuring efforts to help manage declining enrollments and budget reductions. Unfortunately, the Colleges still face significant challenges.

Access: Our two-year campuses serve as critical access points to a UW education at a lower cost. They often serve as launch pads to a four-year institution.

Regardless of how long we study the facts, they will not change. We have three choices:

• Close several UW College campuses;

• Merge two-year campuses with the state’s technical colleges;

• Integrate UW Colleges and UW-Extension into our existing structure.

Closing campuses violates our core principle of providing accessible and affordable higher education. Business and community leaders also stress the important economic and cultural role UW institutions play in their regions. This proposal avoids closing any UW Colleges campus while maintaining a UW presence in these communities.

The idea of merging with the technical colleges has been discussed for a number of years without reaching any consensus on how this would work. It would be complex financially because of different funding mechanisms, and some argue a merger would detract from the missions of each system.

This leaves us with the final option: regionalizing our resources by joining UW Colleges and UW-Extension with our other institutions.

Our mission is to focus on meeting the needs of our students and our citizens.

If the Regents approve this proposal, we are committed to engaging students, faculty, staff, community leaders and other stakeholders in making this a successful transition.

The UW System must take committed, decisive action now to ensure we can continue to provide access to affordable higher education for students and families.