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Out-of-state enrollment percentage down
Tuition cut might help bring numbers back up, regents say
By Tyler Casey
Enrollment among out of state students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has gone down over the last 10 years, even as overall enrollment has increased.
In a 10-year study of enrollment demographics from the 1996-’97 academic year through last year, enrollment among non-Wisconsin students has fallen. Over 90 percent of UWM students are now Wisconsin residents.
Although the overall number of out of state students has increased, the number has decreased percentage-wise.
Of last year’s enrollment of 26,769, only 1,508 students — just 5.6 percent — were from outside Wisconsin.
In the 1996-’97 academic year, only 1,445 out-of-state students were enrolled of a total of 21,877, just 6.6 percent of the total enrollment that year.
Director of Enrollment Services Beth Weckmueller believes that “shrinking support for higher education” has lead to the higher tuition costs that keep prospective students away from the UW System.
“The bottom line is that Wisconsin has gotten to be relatively more expensive for out of state students,” she said.
During the last six years, nonresident tuition in the UW System saw major increases in 2000 and 2002.
The only increase in students from outside Wisconsin’s borders has been from states with reciprocity agreements with UW schools. Reciprocity is an agreement that allows students from another state to attend a UW school for the price of an in-state resident. Wisconsin has a reciprocity agreement with Minnesota and a limited agreement with Michigan. Total undergraduate enrollment from reciprocity students has more than doubled over the last 10 years.
The drop-off in nonresident enrollment is not exclusive to UWM. The UW System has seen nonresident numbers decline in recent years. UW System regents believe this will be helped by a system-wide cut in out of state tuition that was approved earlier this year. A 2004 survey of representatives from UW schools suggested lowering out of state tuition, adding reciprocity agreements with other states, and increasing the visibility of the UW System nationwide.
Weckmueller agrees that the tuition cut will help increase out of state enrollment, but is cautious about the possibility of UW schools relying too heavily on other states for potential students.
“It can be a tricky balancing act — wanting to serve some out of state students, yet not wanting to deny access to in-state students,” she said.
While nonresidents still outnumber reciprocity students, the two demographics are headed in opposite directions. Reciprocity freshmen have outnumbered nonresident freshmen for the last two years. In 2000, there were 500 more nonresident undergraduates than reciprocity undergrads. Last year, nonresidents lead by less than 100.
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