College Contraction Begins at UW-Whitewater

There's never been a question about shrinking school enrollments, and UW-Whitewater is the first reported casualty of the birth-dearth.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is looking at potential layoffs in the wake of a "drastic" decline in enrollment this fall that resulted in almost 500 fewer students than the fall of the year before.

Chancellor Dwight Watson, who is entering his second semester at the university's helm, wrote in a campuswide letter that the university's budget will need to shrink by $12 million over the next two fiscal years to make up for the lost tuition revenue. 

UW-Whitewater's enrollment has now declined 8% over the past three years....

That's pretty steep.

Live-birth stats in both Wisconsin and the nation have dropped VERY significantly since 1960, from 25.4 that year to 11.1 in 2018.  Eighteen years ago, the rate in Wisconsin was 12.9, (far short of the national 14.4)--and the rate has gone down since 2000.

Undaunted by reality, the UW System has been building lotsa new buildings, and local school districts are doing the same.

The taxpayer revolt will not be pretty when it comes, and it's coming fast.