News
September 23, 2024 | By Benjamin Yount
Policy Issues
State Budget

UW Branch Campus Enrollment Shows Fewer Students, Again

The University of Wisconsin continues to lose students at its smaller campuses.

The University of Wisconsin continues to lose students at its smaller campuses.

The university on Monday released the enrollment figures for its branch campuses, and once again enrollment fell at most of them. Five of the nine remaining UW branch campuses lost students compared to last fall:

  • UW-Platteville Baraboo saw enrolment fall from 210 students to 185
  • UW-Stevens Point-Marshfield saw enrolment fall from 283students to 158
  • UW-Stevens Point-Wausau saw enrolment fall from 364 students to 286
  • UW-Milwaukee’s Waukesha campus saw enrolment fall from 708 students to 597
  • UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities saw enrolment fall from 563 students to 453

Both UW-Milwaukee’s Waukesha campus and UW-Oshkosh’s Fox Cities campus are closing at the end of this school year. Four other campuses, UW-Eau Claire Barron County, UW-Green Bay Manitowoc, UW-Green Bay Sheboygan, UW-Whitewater Rock County all saw enrollment jump this fall. Four other UW branch campuses have already closed.

The increases, however, are varied. While UW-Green Bay Manitowoc added 90 students compared to last fall, the UW-Green Bay Sheboygan added just five. The mixed-bag of enrollment at the UW’s branch campuses comes after similar varied enrollment numbers for the university’s four-year campuses. As a whole, the university said there are about 1,000 more students on campuses this fall. But UW-Madison alone added over 1,000 students this fall, which offset enrollment declines at five other four-year campuses. Some of the drop in enrollment at the UW’s branch campuses is a result of fewer high school kids taking dual-enrollment classes while still in high school. The university, however, did not say which branch campuses fall into that camp.

The enrollment figures come as the University of Wisconsin is asking for more money from state lawmakers. The UW wants $855 million more in the next state budget. The university is getting $1.3 billion in state money in the current state budget. UW President Jay Rotyhman has said in the past that if lawmakers don’t give the school more money, the university will be forced to raise tuition again.

State Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said last week that he wants to see the university “right size” its operations before the legislature gives it more money.

Campus 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha County 2215 2026 2060 2014 2038 2035 2093 2240 2248 2118 2175 2261 2085 1868 1740 1767 1542 1221 1049 790 708
UW-Eau Claire-Barron County 647 625 575 587 606 627 679 715 706 634 603 613 578 497 512 642 454 423 401 455 463
UW-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus 636 655 642 584 594 543 550 614 666 614 530 461 478 364 334 311 237 287 341 373 404
UW-Green Bay, Sheboygan Campus 798 753 731 691 725 782 856 875 896 836 753 770 727 637 560 581 381 411 447 440 435
UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities 1737 1690 1742 1730 1745 1650 1731 1830 1822 1799 1760 1702 1557 1367 1286 1629 1134 925 714 605 563
UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County 651 640 616 616 666 679 597 594 617 597 580 567 538 523 461 494 360 225 216 179 210
UW-Stevens Point at Marshfield 631 667 657 592 636 628 674 711 715 628 650 623 649 535 541 545 431 395 346 344 283
UW-Stevens Point at Wausau 1300 1334 1296 1315 1368 1364 1388 1410 1368 1275 1260 1107 978 841 779 802 587 536 531 404 364
UW-Whitewater at Rock County 918 893 888 929 912 1058 1175 1215 1289 1305 1224 1152 1155 1038 908 975 862 771 644 593 696
UW Colleges Online 366 524 673 934 1062 1212 1163 1290 1520 1624 1764 2290 2351 2510 2632 0 0 0 0 0 0
UW-Milwaukee at Washington County 961 987 955 968 1018 1018 1040 1117 1037 998 990 937 869 760 730 744 605 500 387 332 285
UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus 514 497 523 466 459 469 569 526 461 464 507 495 465 292 289 306 203 215 240 242 213
UW-Oshkosh Fond du Lac 719 692 772 763 751 736 779 794 749 692 707 627 594 523 563 579 444 394 281 258 252
UW-Platteville Richland 521 516 467 450 449 474 495 454 476 523 555 567 528 278 273 366 159 108 75 60 0

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