With the recent restructuring of the UW System and decrease in enrollment at UW Colleges, there has been turmoil regarding the effect of higher education on the state’s economy and its role going forward.
Despite last year’s national surveys revealing public doubts about higher education, UW-Eau Claire student Ryan Ring, a first-generation college student, “always knew” he wanted to go to school to set himself apart.
He is also on the UW Board of Regents, which is responsible for making decisions for all the UW System universities and responding to the state’s needs.
Ring, however, is positive that higher education is prosperous for the state.
“I’m personally very excited for what the future has to hold for the UW System because I think a lot of taxpayers and stakeholders in Wisconsin are realizing how valuable higher education is,” Ring said.
One of the recent changes to the UW System was the restructuring of two-year colleges with four-year universities. All 13 two-year institutions merged with the seven four-year universities.
Noel Radomski, director and associate researcher at Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, said it’s too early to tell how the centralizing of services will serve the regional colleges.
He claimed three years ago that the Regents brought many regional leaders and recruiters away from their schools and into Madison to try to increase enrollment.
“[UW Board of Regents] said we’re going to centralize [regional schools’ administrative staff] and therefore we’re going to increase enrollment,” Radomski said. “But what happened was they got further away from prospective students and parents.”
The decrease in enrollment was something that sparked the restructuring. UW-Stevens Point, for example, has seen a 7 percent decrease in enrollment, with a 22 percent decrease in the past 10 years.
But enrollment isn’t just down because of possible policy changes. Radomski said Wisconsin had a tradition of sending high school graduates to technical colleges due to Wisconsin’s reputation as an agricultural and industrial state.
When the economy is good, students are also more likely to attend technical colleges because they don’t need to pay tuition for a degree at a college, according to Radomski. He also noted the concern families feel as the price of higher education continues to rise.
“Families now in fact are concerned about student loans and student debt, which wasn’t an issue 10 to 20 years ago when tuition was relatively inexpensive,” Radomski said.
The real issues along with the perceptions of just how expensive college can be has contributed to decreased enrollment.
Many programs are committed to help prospective students pay for college tuition, however. Bucky’s Promise, which was announced by the university last year, guarantees full coverage of tuition and fees at UW-Madison for Wisconsin residents who have an adjusted gross income of $56,000 or less.
Yet with all the perceptions of problems and solutions, the UW System still has a very healthy affect on Wisconsin’s economy.
According to a recent study by NorthStar analytics based on fiscal year 2016-17 data, the UW System has a $24 billion impact on Wisconsin’s economy with nearly 176,000 jobs supported or created.
With crucial midterm elections coming up, there has been debate between the candidates over ways to ensure that the UW System can continue to benefit Wisconsin’s economy.
Gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers promised to increase investments in both Wisconsin’s technical schools and the UW System, citing cuts to education as part of the reason he’s running.
“I’ve seen the faces of our kids facing the devastating cuts to public education,” Evers said in a statement on his website.
Gov. Scott Walker started an ad campaign encouraging graduates from UW schools — especially UW-Madison — to stay and work in-state after they graduate along with floating the idea of a tax credit for those who qualify.
Despite the bluster of ongoing political campaigns, Radomski said it is crucial to focus on providing quality academic programs, especially as the system evolves and changes with the merger.
He argues that programs at smaller schools need to be more forward-thinking and work with businesses to understand what kind of degrees are necessary instead of only being content with stability or steady increases.
Ring said the Regents are requesting more money for performanced-based funding as well as projects to improve STEM fields. With the arrival of Foxconn to the state, fields like engineering will become more important to the state’s economy.
And with all the changes happening in the UW System, Ring is positive that the Wisconsin Idea is still the “core mission.”
“After the restructuring, [the Wisconsin Idea] is now more prevalent than ever,” Ring said. “We really have a footprint in nearly every county. I think the Wisconsin Idea is not just known at UW-Madison, but across the UW System.”
