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External review raises alarms about financial future at several UW campuses
A newly released third-party analysis raises concerns about the financial future of several state universities.
Last year, a forecast from the Universities of Wisconsin projected structural deficits at 10 Wisconsin public universities ranging from millions to tens of millions of dollars.
Only three campuses – Madison, LaCrosse and Stout – were projected to generate enough revenue to cover expenses.
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On Thursday, the UW System released updates from an external analysis of the finances of seven of the universities with projected deficits.
Reports prepared by the company Deloitte point to fiscal difficulties, including a drop in enrollment, difficulties in retaining students and the end of federal aid for COVID-19.
And as University of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman noted, Wisconsin ranks 42nd in the country when it comes to state funding for public universities.
“While we will do our part on the expense side, it is up to the state to decide whether it wants and can afford a weakened University of Wisconsin,” he said during a news conference Thursday.
An additional $440 million would be needed to bring Wisconsin universities up to the national median for state funding, according to a UW news release.
Rothman told reporters that “it’s fair to say” the university system will ask state lawmakers for a funding increase in Wisconsin’s next two years’ budget, although he said the amount of that request has not yet been determined.
The recently completed reports apply to Superior, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Parkside, Whitewater and Green Bay universities.
Officials say they will release more Deloitte reports in the coming months, covering additional UW campuses and the University of Wisconsin Administration.
UW-Green Bay Chancellor Mike Alexander said the newly released analysis highlights positive trends, including enrollment expansion that includes graduate students and dual-enrolled high school students.
“It also talks about the opportunities we have to move forward as an institution, which is always helpful,” Alexander said in an interview with WPR. “And it’s always good to have a third party look at your final situation and make an assessment.”
Despite that, Alexander says the report makes assumptions based on fiscal year 2023 and does not fully take into account for reductions made in fiscal year 2024 nor for those planned in fiscal year 2025.
“It takes a snapshot of an institution’s finances and then draws a straight line from there, as if the institution is not going to make additional changes,” he said.
UW-Green Bay officials say they are on track to eliminate a projected deficit of more than $2 million by the start of the 2025 fiscal year.
A strategic plan approved by the UW Board of Regents in 2022 calls for the elimination of structural deficits in all universities in the system by 2028.
Green Bay officials discontinued two programs, citing low enrollment, and discussed eliminating even more academic offerings.
And, among other cuts, layoffs were recently announced at UW-Green Bay, Parkside, Platteville and Oshkosh.
“Current and prospective students need to know how UWO is responding to the challenging headwinds disrupting higher education everywhere,” UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Andy Leavitt said in a statement Thursday. “The financial assessment is a powerful validation of the progress we have made in confronting UWO’s deficit head-on over the past few months. The report recognizes our efforts to reduce a gap from $18 million to $3 million through difficult but necessary measures, while also striving to protect student services and experiences.”
This month, regents approved UW’s second in-state tuition increase in two years. A decade-long tuition freeze ended in 2022 after being imposed by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin state Legislature.
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