The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee will close its Washington County campus by June 30, 2024, university officials announced today.
The announcement followed a directive issued by Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman, ordering the end of in-person instruction at the West Bend campus and at UW-Oshkosh’s satellite campus in Fond du Lac.
Rothman also directed chancellors overseeing the remaining two-year campuses, like UWM-Waukesha County, to work with local officials to determine the best uses for facilities to meet student and community needs. UW-Platteville’s Richland Center campus, which ceased in-person degree-bearing instruction this July, will officially close under Tuesday’s directive.
Although UWM-Washington County will stop accepting new student applications, new students can still apply to UWM’s main campus, UWM-Waukesha County or to one of UWM’s online programs, officials said, noting that UWM will work with current students at the West Bend campus to help them complete their degree or transfer to another school.
“Student success is at the core of every decision we make,” UWM chancellor Mark Mone said in a press release. “That’s why we are investing in ways to help our students attend and graduate college through programs like the Milwaukee Tuition Promise … But as we build new pathways for students, we must let go of others that are no longer sustainable.”
No impact to Waukesha County campus
Although Rothman directed chancellors overseeing the UW-System’s remaining two-year campuses to determine the best uses for facilities to meet student and community needs, Angelica Duria, UWM’s director of strategic communications, said there will be no impact to students at UWM-Waukesha.
“The Waukesha campus will remain open and continue to serve students seeking a degree,” Duria said.
When asked whether a task force would be established for the UWM’s Waukesha County campus, she said, “no,” noting that the task force enlisted to study Washington County’s fiscal and enrollment woes was done by Washington County itself, not the university.
While enrollment at UWM-Washington County fell 55% in the last five years, enrollment at UWM-Waukesha has remained relatively stable at 715 students.
Tech schools an option
While acknowledging that the closure of UWM-Washington County will feel like a loss, especially to those who earned a degree there, Mone noted that UW-Milwaukee is continuing to foster strong relationships, and transfer agreements with tech colleges in the region – schools like Moraine Park Technical College and Waukesha County Technical College recently received approval to begin granting general education requirements that can go toward traditional four-year bachelor’s degrees.
“Our mission at Moraine Park is to grow minds, businesses and communities through innovative learning experiences, and our unique UW partnerships allow us even more opportunity to achieve this,” Moraine Park president Bonnie Baerwald said in the release. “We look forward to working alongside UW-Milwaukee to continue serving the Washington County area, building upon the robust transfer agreements we have already created and providing seamless opportunities for Moraine Park graduates who desire the completion of baccalaureate degrees.”
The beefing up of transfer agreements between the four-year UW-Milwaukee campus and Moraine Park comes about six months after a proposal to merge the struggling UWM-Washington County with the technical college was rejected by Gov. Tony Evers.
Downward spiral
News of the pending closure of Washington County campus comes as the UW System – recently rebranded as the Universities of Wisconsin, has urged chancellors at the two-year campuses parent schools – UW-Milwaukee, UW-Platteville, UW-Oshkosh – to “explore the long-term viability of the branch campuses.”
Universities and colleges across the state and Midwest have continued to struggle with enrollment losses in recent years following birthrate declines in the late 2000s that have shrunk the number of high school graduates seeking college degrees. This spring, Cardinal Stritch University announced it would be closing after 86 years in operation.
Up until 2017, the system’s 13 two-year colleges at Richland Center, Washington County, Fond du Lac, and elsewhere, were considered stand-alone community college institutions know as the UW Colleges. In 2018 they were merged with nearby four-year UW System schools under an order by then UW System president Ray Cross.
Following that merger, enrollment at UWM-Washington fell from 744 students, where it was in 2018, to 332 students in 2023 – a drop of 55%.
A task force convened to study Washington County’s woes issued a report in August that said UWM-Washington County’s enrollment struggles were no different than those of the other two-year campuses, with half of them having experienced enrollment declines greater than 50% since 2018. It did, however, determine that the downward enrollment trend at Washington County showed “no sign of abating.”
What’s next?
Students at the Washington County and Waukesha campuses have been served by UWM’s College of General Studies. Moving forward, UWM will integrate the College of General Studies into the College of Letters & Science and other colleges.
UWM will work as quickly as possible to evaluate how the pending changes will affect personnel needs in Washington County and Waukesha, the press release states. UWM also will maintain a dialogue with students, employees and community stakeholders as the process continues and as more information becomes available.
