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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/26/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
October 2, 2005 More students + less funds = growing pains for UWGB School looks to hike enrollment while battling budget troubles By Kelly McBride
So university and community officials are set to support a plan they say would be good for both UWGB and the larger Northeastern Wisconsin community.
"The biggest hurdle is the budget, and competing with Madison and Milwaukee for scarce resources," said Paul Jadin, president of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. "The most critical thing we can do is become the squeaky wheel."
The ultimate goal, UWGB Chancellor Bruce Shepard said, is a campus of 7,500 students. That kind of enrollment - a one-day fall snapshot that doesn't measure every student who takes a class during the year - would mean UWGB would serve between 9,000 and 10,000 people annually, Shepard said.
UWGB's 2005-06 enrollment is hovering just above the 5,500 mark and Shepard is shooting for significant increases in the next three budget bienniums. UW-Green Bay this year has an overall budget of about $73.2 million, of which $22.7 million comes from state taxpayers.
The UW System, which represents less than 9 percent of the state budget, absorbed 38 percent of the spending cuts in the 2003-05 state budget. That dramatic cut came on top of the System's 23 percent share of spending cuts in the 2002 budget repair bill.
Shepard has said UWGB will be vital in Northeastern Wisconsin's transition from an old manufacturing-based economy to a new, more high-tech economy for the future.
"It's a region that's changing economically and it's changing demographically. ... We have, I believe, a fairly narrow window to succeed in this transition," Shepard said.
These changes are occurring as the region becomes more racially and ethnically diverse. Minorities make up about 12 percent of Brown County's population, according to the 2000 census.
Finding enough students to fill open spots shouldn't be a challenge because UWGB turns away many fully qualified students each year. With those students alone, Shepard predicts enrollment goals would be easily met.
For the past several years, UWGB has been the first school system-wide to close enrollment. This year was no exception, and the university closed enrollment Jan. 18, the earliest ever.
More students will mean a need for more facilities. Groundbreaking for the new Kress Events Center - a $32 million remodeling and expansion of the existing Phoenix Sports Center - is scheduled for Nov. 1. UWGB also plans to add an academic building and one or more new residence halls as needed during the next six years.
As university officials solicit support from the larger community, emphasizing connections between that community and the relatively geographically isolated campus also is important. And although the UWGB campus is hardly in the heart of the city, it's perhaps not as isolated as it once was, said UW-System regent Judy Crain of Green Bay.
With the on-campus Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, Downtown Learning Center and other initiatives to connect the campus to the community, the university is perhaps less of an island, she said.
"It seems to me that the community is interested in providing education for its residents and its citizens and that UWGB as a public institution, as the major (area) baccalaureate institution on a four-year level, is critical to that," she said. "I think that people are going to want to make use of that opportunity for themselves and for their children."
And while UWGB is focused on its own growth and will remain that way for some time, officials there recognize that the campus doesn't exist in a postsecondary vacuum. Communications and partnerships with other area schools - including St. Norbert College, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and UW-Oshkosh - are forming to benefit not only the individual institutions, but the region as a whole, Shepard said.
According to the region's economic outlook, educational attainment is a key shortcoming, Jadin said. But allowing more qualified students to enroll at UWGB could help change that picture.
"The Chamber of Commerce is very, very supportive. We've adopted a policy statement on that," Jadin said. "If you're looking at, potentially, over a four-year period ... (people) not getting a degree at Green Bay when they could have if they had allowed further applications, that is something that has a very direct impact on our economy."
By the numbers
• 5,541 students, 914 of them freshmen, were enrolled at UWGB on the first day of the 2005 fall semester.
• Enrollment numbers were boosted by 546 transfer students, 88 more than the number of transfers in 2004.
• UWGB began the academic year with 329 undergraduate students of color, an all-time high for the university.
• About 77 percent of freshmen - more than 700 - live in on-campus residence halls.
• The fall class at UWGB represents students from 69 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, 30 states and Puerto Rico, plus 18 other countries.
• University transfer students came primarily from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, UW-Fox Valley, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Manitowoc, UW-Marinette and UW-Stevens Point. About 17 percent of fall transfer students transferred at least some coursework from NWTC.
• Female students in the freshman class outnumber male students 65 percent to 35 percent.
Looking forward
• Increased enrollment: UWGB Chancellor Bruce Shepard hopes to increase university enrollment to 7,500 during the next three budget bienniums.
• More diversity: Initiatives that partner with alumni and community members, such as the Chancellor's Community Council on Diversity, are an effort to increase the number of minority students and faculty at UWGB. By reaching out to students in grades K-12, the university hopes to engage kids early.
• More facilities: Crews are scheduled to break ground for the Kress Events Center - a $32 million renovation and expansion of the Phoenix Sports Center on Nov. 1. Officials predict a new academic building and one or more additional residence halls will be built during the next six years.
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