PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Including UW Oshkosh, there are six UW system campuses that are projected to operate at a loss for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The others are UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Superior, UW-Parkside and UW-Whitewater.
The debt totals about $16.4M systemwide.
This is still down from 10 universities facing a deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
UW-Oshkosh has a cash debt of $7.6M.
Ashok Rai, a member of the Board of Regents and Chair of the Board’s Business and Finance Committee said during their meeting this month the campus has also exhausted its unrestricted reserve balance.
“That balance will be covered by reserves at the UW system with the expectation of payback in interest,” said Rai during day one of the UW Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, June 6th.
UW-Oshkosh attributes the larger-than-expected deficit to timing with some savings that have been planned for, but not yet realized.
Director of Media Relations for The Universities of Wisconsin, Mark Pitsch, released a statement that read:
There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure the long-term viability of our universities, even as we have started to implement plans to eliminate structural deficits. There will be more difficult decisions ahead. But we are making progress toward our goal of eliminating structural deficits by 2028.
Amid money struggles within the Universities of Wisconsin — at this month’s Board of Regents meeting, Governor Tony Evers called for an additional $800M in funding for the system in the state’s next two-year budget.
“At the heart of my executive budget will be addressing the challenges facing our UW system including making the investments necessary to try and right a decade worth of wrongs,” said Evers as he addressed the Regents on Friday, June 7th.
GOP Representative David Steffen of Brown County is pumping the brakes on Evers’ call.
“The answer isn’t always more money. There needs to be some reforms as a way that they are looking at their priorities, developing priorities, and then focusing on what the people are asking for,” said Steffen.
The next UW Board of Regents meeting will be held in Madison in August.
UW-Oshkosh anticipates the regents will approve its new academic model — which could save the university up to an additional $2M.
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