UW System leaders met Thursday in hopes of raising total graduation by 30 percent in 15 years through outreach and financial improvements.
At the Board of Regents meeting, UW System President Kevin Reilly presented the system's ""More Graduates for Wisconsin"" initiative that aims to increase undergraduate degrees per year from 26,000 to over 33,000 by 2025.
The initiative will focus on retaining students rather than increasing enrollment. Its strategies include improving college preparatory programs, diversifying the types of courses available and targeting ""populations of opportunity"" like older adults, racial minorities and first-generation and low-income students.
Reilly stressed the need to augment financial aid programs like the Wisconsin Covenant. He called for renewed state investment in universities as well as the freedom to ""make better use of the dollars they already have"" by cutting unnecessary bureaucratic costs.
Reilly said the number of four-year college degree holders in Wisconsin is two percent below the national average, and thus per capita income lags behind other states.
""Economists and policy-makers alike recognize that this shortfall comes with a very real price,"" Reilly said.
Reilly said increasing graduation rates would lift the economy and bring new jobs to the state. He said the UW System is working to create jobs through research and development on Wisconsin campuses.
""It's not enough simply to create more college graduates and have them leave the state for better job prospects,"" Reilly said.
The UW System also requested millions of dollars for classroom renovations, instructional technology and improvements to the Charter Street Heating Plant.
The meeting will continue Friday. The board will discuss strategic financing for the More Graduates initiative in May.
