Demographics Drive Down U-W Student Enrollment

Preliminary figures show that the 26 U-W campuses will have about 25-hundred fewer students compared to last fall, when the enrollment drop totaled five-thousand. Officials blame demographics that reflect an older population throughout Wisconsin, and a drop in the state’s birth rate. The numbers of students at the 13 two year U-W colleges fell by seven-point-five-percent from last year, for a total loss of about 900 students. And U-W Stevens Point lost 462 students for a total decline of five-point-four percent. The Point campus is reportedly looking at ways to reduce costs — and one option is to eliminate its geography and geology department without dropping the majors in that sector.