University of Wisconsin System President Kevin P. Reilly met with Waukesha county executive Dan Finley, UW Colleges Interim Chancellor Margaret Cleek and UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago Friday to talk about a proposal that would offer four-year degrees on two-year campuses.
According to UW Colleges CIO Dick Cleek, the group discussed cooperating on a study that would evaluate the need for four-year degrees at Waukesha. The meeting came after Finley’s proposal late in January proposing to sell the UW-Waukesha campus for $1 to the state.
The UW System suggested offering four-year degree programs at two-year campuses, such as UW-Waukesha, in order to increase the number of bachelor’s degrees in the state. There are 13 two-year colleges in the UW System, all of which have been offered the plan to add four-year degrees on their campuses.
Friday’s discussion among the administrators involved the possibility of converting UW-Waukesha into a four-year university or turning it into an outreach campus for UW-Milwaukee to expand, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
However, the proposal has the county executive concerned, as Waukesha County pays for maintenance of the 80-acre UW-Waukesha campus and all of its buildings, while the state covers all academic costs. The state budget covers all the costs of running the university.
Finley said the county is being forced to pay the price of a four-year university, a price the state should handle.
Still, the idea of merging the two campuses is limited to state legislature, and within the county-state relationship, the county owns the buildings, according to UW Regent Mark Bradley.
While the possibility exists, some have expressed concern over turning Waukesha into a four-year university.
According to UW Regent Brent Smith, the idea is certainly worth exploring.
“It’s worth discussing to see what efficiencies will be there,” Smith said. “The financial times we live in, you’re seeing a lot of people trying to be creative to save money.”
However, the idea would end a 40-year cooperative effort between the county and the state, a commitment carried throughout the UW System through the benefit of UW Colleges.
According to Bradley, UW Colleges are the most efficient providers of education for the first two years of college education. That includes having the best retention rates, completion rates and cost for education in the UW System. Thus, Bradley said, the UW System should be wary.
“Everywhere that we look in terms of those measures of quality and those measures of efficient operation … you can’t beat the UW colleges,” Bradley said.
Additionally, Bradley said UW chancellors may not be so supportive of allowing their campuses to be joined with two-years, making their job more difficult.
“I don’t see four-year campuses’ chancellors [thinking that would] ever be great,” Bradley said. “The deans of the two-year colleges are saying just what I said: ‘What’s broken?'”
