UWM at Waukesha campus to close in 2025; new program with WCTC to develop

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) announced Monday, March 11, it will close its Waukesha campus after the Spring 2025 semester in response to a directive from the Universities of Wisconsin.

At a press conference Monday afternoon, UWM leaders said the driving force behind the decision was declining enrollment. Chancellor Mark Mone said current enrollment at the Waukesha campus is a little less than 700, which is a 65% decline since 2014.

While the UWM at Waukesha campus will close, UWM will partner with Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) to develop the UWM University Center at WCTC. 

"While this is news that is not going to be welcomed and is certainly disappointing for many of our employees, when you have this type of news, we do see opportunities in the future for our students," Mone said. "We see opportunities, in fact, for our employees and certainly for employers."

The Waukesha campus' closure will affect more than 100 workers, including tenured faculty. Mone said he was optimistic some of that staff would be hired on at WCTC, which will absorb the four-year bachelor's degree programs UWM at Waukesha had implemented for business, nursing and psychology.

"Those are the [faculty] that we see very quickly moving over," Mone said.

Damion Harbaugh, who said he was in his third semester of studying psychology at the Waukesha campus, said he was confident he would be able to transfer to another UW campus, ideally Madison. 

Harbaugh said his main concern was for faculty who cannot simply transfer to a different campus.

"I think for the uncertain future for teachers, and especially the professors that really put a lot of hard work, you know," he said. "Them not having a certain career path, I think, is really upsetting."

WCTC President Rich Barnhouse said adding the UWM programs, which will eventually include a path for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, will make for a powerful combination with courses the technical college already offers, particularly in the area of artificial intelligence.

"There are difficult decisions that need to be made, but without those difficult decisions, it's really hard to get to a positive future," Barnhouse said.

The closure continues a trend of smaller colleges struggling to survive amid declining enrollment. In October, the Universities of Wisconsin, also known as the UW System, confirmed the UWM at Washington County and UW-Oshkosh at Fond du Lac campuses would no longer provide in-person classes after June 2024. 

The UW-Platteville at Richland Center campus will close altogether. 

Last spring, Cardinal Stritch University announced the private college would close after having its final commencement in May.

In a statement, UW System President Jay Rothman called the UWM-WCTC partnership a "forward, collaborative solution."

"I asked chancellors to review the operations of their branch campuses and develop strategies in the best interest of their communities," Rothman said. "And this partnership maintains educational access for students while demonstrating our fiscal stewardship.” 

Mone said he received a directive from Rothman last Thursday calling for UWM to close the Waukesha campus.

UWM Vice Chancellor of Finance Robin Van Harpen said financial savings did not factor into the Waukesha closure as much as the enrollment numbers. She said keeping the Waukesha campus open was unsustainable, given tuition at the Waukesha campus is about $4,800 per year, about half the cost of attending the main UWM campus on Milwaukee's east side.

"We're really more looking at the declining enrollments going into the future and the fact that the tuition is very low, and yet the costs per student are fairly high," Van Harpen said.

As for what will happen to the physical campus, which includes 11 buildings totaling more than 275,000-square feet, Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said the county would put together a task force to study different options for repurposing the land.

"If it's residential property, if it's more educational purposes, if it's like commercial, it's all kind of up in the air," Farrow said. "We'll put all that together."

Mone said having 16 months to complete the closure will allow UWM to finalize which staff will move to WCTC while other workers might be able to catch on at the main UWM campus.

Both he and Barnhouse said it will be easier to integrate UWM programming at WCTC because in January, UWM announced transfer agreements with four regional technical colleges, including WCTC.

As a result, there's a simplified application process for students with associate degrees interested in continuing their studies at UWM.