GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – While most campuses in the UW-System are seeing dwindling numbers, UW-Green Bay is reporting five consecutive years of enrollment growth.
If you ask a few students on UW-Green Bay’s campus why they chose to go to school here, you’ll hear plenty of reasons, but one is clearly brought up more than others.
“It’s close to home, so I can go back whenever I feel like,” said Meadow Schmidt, a freshman from Reedsville.
The average distance to home for students became even shorter this year. UWGB reports it has 7,251 students enrolled this fall.
Nearly a third of that total, 2,164 students, is from Brown County. That number grew by 600, or 8 percent, compared to last year.
Eric Arneson, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs & Campus Climate at UW-Green Bay, tells FOX 11….
“So what that says to me is that people in our community are seeing UWGB as a viable option for them to be able to stay at home, which may be more economical.”
Arneson also says another thing adding to enrollment is the school has added more than a dozen academic programs in the last five years, many in response to demand from area businesses.
“What we heard really strongly is we need engineering, so now we have the Resch College of Engineering. We’ve heard that we desperately need nurses, so next fall we’ll embark on our four-year nursing program.”
According to preliminary numbers from the UW-System, only seven of the system’s 26 campuses saw enrollment growth compared to last year.
In our area, UW-Oshkosh saw an increase less than a percentage point. Of the five satellite campuses in our area, only the Fox Valley campus saw enrollment rise (.4%). Fond du Lac (-11.4%), Manitowoc (-16.5%), Marinette (-11.1%), and Sheboygan (-8.4%) all saw decreases.
“There are no bad schools in Wisconsin,” said Arneson.
“I just think students look at where am I going to get the best bang for my buck and where am I going to get the best experience.”
UWGB reports its students leave with the lowest debt ratio among the 13 state universities.
While the debt ratio is lowest at UWGB, it does not have the lowest annual undergraduate tuition. It is in the lower two-thirds, however, at $7,878 a year.
Earlier this year, the UW system restructured, adding Marinette, Manitowoc and Sheboygan two-year campuses to UW-Green Bay, bringing in 1,192 additional students, raising total fall enrollments to 8,443.
