Students
Total enrollment: 22,882 students
- 18,674 undergraduate students
- 4,208 graduate students
- 3,101 students who are fully online
- Students from 72 Wisconsin counties and 50 states
- 81% Wisconsin residents
- 39% of undergraduates are first-generation college students
- 1,169 veterans and military-related students enrolled, more than any other Wisconsin university
Alumni
207,872 alumni
- More than 80% of graduates in the last decade live and work in Wisconsin
Academics
214 academic programs
- 108 graduate programs
Largest and top-rated online education program in Wisconsin
- 900+ online courses
- 52 fully online degree and certificate programs
Economic Impact
• $1.5 billion economic impact on Wisconsin, according to NorthStar Consulting Group
Community Engagement
- More than 2,224 service-learning, community-based research and volunteer placements
- 50,180 hours of service-learning completed by students
- 2,948 students enrolled in 52 service-learning courses
Research
- Ranked in the top 4% of research universities, a category known as R1, by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education
- $39.5 million in grants in 2022-23
- 2018 Campus-Wide Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishments from the national Council on Undergraduate Research – UWM has more than 1,000 undergraduate researchers.
Only at UWM
- Wisconsin’s only schools of architecture, freshwater sciences and public health
- The state’s largest nursing program
- An engineering college ranked in the top 15% in the U.S.
- A nationally recognized actuarial science program
- A leader in trauma-informed care, crime analysis, child and family welfare, and school social work
- A film program ranked among the top 50 in the world (Variety Magazine)
- Ranked 20th nationally in online bachelor’s programs by U.S. News & World Report
Strategic Partnerships
The UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center is a powerful resource for entrepreneurs, innovators and anyone who wants to make a positive change in their community. From courses and programs to workshops and networking, LEC provides the tools needed to transform ideas into reality.
Among its many offerings are:
UWM Startup Challenge
Milwaukee I-Corps Program
University Innovation Fellows
UWM Innovators Expo
The Center for Water Policy builds on the research of UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences, the UW System’s Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin, and networks and partnerships with top scholars, scientists and policy institutions around the world.
The Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute is an industry and academic partnership between Northwestern Mutual, UWM and Marquette University formed to inspire and cultivate passion for data science in the Milwaukee region. The groundbreaking partnership is helping to build a technology ecosystem and advance southeastern Wisconsin as a national hub for technology, research, business and talent development, while also creating an organic pipeline of tech talent.
UWM’s Small Business Development Center in its School of Continuing Education is a go-to resource for entrepreneurs and business owners. The center helps build strong frameworks for growing and improving small- and mid-sized companies while also helping launch successful new ventures. The center provides free online training as well as no-cost, confidential consulting and education programs.
Student Success
UWM is one of three major public education institutions in Milwaukee to co-found M-Cubed, a critical initiative to close the achievement gap. UWM is home to the Moon Shot for Equity’s inaugural launch in the Milwaukee region.
UWM is launching the Milwaukee Tuition Promise in Fall 2024 to ensure that incoming eligible students can meet the full cost of tuition for up to four years. The program will assist students whose families earn less than $62,000 annually or independent students who earn less than $31,000 per year. The program is structured to provide “last dollar” financial aid after federal and state grants. Students must attend full time, be Wisconsin residents, be first-time bachelor’s- or associate-degree seeking students, and meet other criteria to qualify. UWM estimates the program could assist more than 1,000 students, which would simultaneously improve their lives while boosting the number of college graduates available to meet the state’s workforce needs.
Opportunities For All
UWM has partnered with six other organizations for the Milwaukee Anchor Collaborative, which is dedicated to hiring more people of color and purchasing more goods from disadvantaged areas. Undertaken with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, UWM’s Student Success and Talent Pipeline Initiative places students from diverse backgrounds into internships to prepare them for career success.
Updated Sept. 2023