The struggle to serve rural Wisconsin's higher education needs

John Hart reported on February 28, 2020, for The Chippewa Herald in northern Wisconsin, on what's happening to the state's multi-campus higher education system outside the flagship Madison campus, with particular focus on the state's rural reaches.  Here's an excerpt that paints a pretty dire picture, focused on Richland Center, population 5,184, the county seat of Richland County, in southwestern Wisconsin.  The enrollment at that campus has hit an all-time low of 155.  The last time the UW system closed a campus, Medford, in 1980, the Richland campus had an enrollment of 264. Here's more background on the system's declining enrollment:

Seven of the System’s branch campuses this fall, including Richland Center, tallied their lowest enrollment in nearly half a century, according to preliminary data. Total enrollment at the branch campuses, about 7,300 students, marked a 46-year low.

The demographic trend shows little sign of reversing during the next decade. Projections based on the state’s birth rate show the number of students graduating from Wisconsin high schools this spring will be the lowest since 2000, according to a UW-Madison report.

Nationally, the contraction in college enrollment will worsen as an even smaller pool of students born during the Great Recession enters college between 2025 and 2030.

The share of students enrolled at the System’s branch campuses is small — less than 10% of students attending Wisconsin’s public universities. But the campuses play an outsize role in the lives of the students they serve.

Four in 10 students at the Richland campus in 2018, for example, were the first in their families to go to college. Nearly half were eligible for a Pell grant, federal aid that mostly goes to students whose families earn less than $40,000 a year. About 40% of students came from communities with fewer than 5,000 people.

For students like Faith Morga, 19, the prospect of attending a four-year campus was daunting, both personally and financially.

Richland Center’s small classroom setting and lower tuition rate appealed to Morga. She decided to save even more money by commuting from nearby Soldiers Grove, the 500-person village where she grew up. She started classes this fall and plans to eventually complete her degree in elementary education at Platteville [the UW 4-year campus associated with Richland Center].

“I’m not sure why more students aren’t going here,” she said. “It’s a great campus to start out small.”