UW–Milwaukee at Washington County will be closing its doors by June 30, 2023, according to a press release from UW–Milwaukee, as will UW–Oshkosh at Fond du Lac, according to Advance-Titan, UW–Oshkosh’s independent student newspaper.
This was a decision made by Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman earlier this week, UW–Milwaukee spokesperson Angelica Duria said.
Duria said the UW–Milwaukee at Washington County campus has seen decreasing enrollment over the past five years, decreasing from 744 enrolled students in 2018 to 291 students in 2023. Enrollment dropped sharply from last year as well, decreasing by 14%. These statistics were from a study conducted by two organizations, one from UW–Milwaukee at Washington County, and another from Washington County itself, Duria said.
At UW-Oshkosh at Fond du Lac, enrollments last peaked in 1975. Currently there are 235 students currently enrolled according to UW–Oshkosh at Fond du Lac’s website.
“[The closing was] for the most part to do with budget pressures and enrollment declines,” Duria said.
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Studies conducted by Washington County and UW–Milwaukee provided recommendations to UW–Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone on potential campus actions, and Rothman then made the final decision on the campus’s future, according to Duria.
Duria said that with a campus of under 300 students, it becomes difficult to finance operations. There have been rising costs at UW–Milwaukee at Washington County, while tuition has been supplying decreasing revenue. Such a low student population made it challenging to sustain the campus financially.
Duria said the UW–Milwaukee dean of students and academic affairs departments will be working with students at UW–Milwaukee at Washington County to help them either finish their degree or transfer to a school of choice.
“Obviously, with this announcement … everything is still very much in flux, and still a lot of things have to happen behind the scenes for all of us, so we of course, don’t have all the answers just yet, but we plan to inform and update all of our students as soon as we have all of the information available,” Duria said.
UW–Milwaukee will be strengthening its relationship with Moraine Park Technical College which is also in Washington County. Moraine Park will partner with UW–Milwaukee to determine the type of access to higher education that UWM can continue in Washington County, and to also meet the needs of students, the community and employers within the county, Duria said.
UW–Milwaukee and Washington County are deciding on what to do with the campus buildings at the moment. UW–Milwaukee will coordinate with Washington County on future plans for them, Duria said.
