October 17, 2023
Dear Students,
I’m writing today to share important news about the UWM at Washington County campus.
Our primary mission at UWM is to help you succeed. We are constantly looking for new ways to support you better, which is why we launched new opportunities at the Waukesha campus, like the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and the new General Business degree that will launch in Fall 2024. At the same time, we must make some very tough decisions about how to keep UWM strong for decades to come.
Following a directive from the Universities of Wisconsin, UWM will close the UWM at Washington County campus, with a goal of completing the process by June 30, 2024.
UWM at Waukesha will remain open to serve students seeking an associate degree or one of its new bachelor’s degree offerings. We will continue to work with Waukesha County Technical College and other partners in the region to strengthen options for students and meet the region’s demands.
What does this mean for you?
- If you attend UWM at Waukesha, your campus is NOT closing.
- If you attend UWM at Washington County, your campus will close by June 30, 2024. We are committed to helping you complete your degree and, if you choose to do so, we’ll help you transfer to a bachelor’s degree program at the school of your choice.
- We are also working with Moraine Park Technical College to determine ways to continue higher education in Washington County in the future.
- We are not merging our Washington County campus with Moraine Park.
- We are not accepting new students into UWM at Washington County, and new students are encouraged to apply to the main campus, UWM at Waukesha or one of UWM’s top-ranked online programs.
- We are exploring the creation of a common UWM course catalog to improve options for all our students.
This decision comes after nearly a year of study by two separate groups – Washington County’s Task Force on Higher Education and UWM’s separate Washington County Work Group. Both groups examined higher education in the county and the demands of current and prospective students. You can read a copy of the Washington County Work Group’s report.
I’m grateful to both groups for their work and the input provided by UWM students. Ultimately, the steady decline in enrollment at Washington County and increased costs, coupled with increasing pressures on UWM’s overall budget from a 10-year tuition freeze and more recent cuts in state funding, played an outsized role in leading us to this decision. We want you to have a robust student experience and this is difficult without a critical mass of students.
What are the next steps?
We know that this announcement will prompt many questions and concerns about your future as a student. I can assure you that we make these changes with the goal of benefiting students in the long term.
During the next several months, we will provide several opportunities for students to ask questions and hear directly from campus leaders.
Starting today, information about the changes ahead is available on this webpage. We will be adding answers to common questions, meeting dates and other information.
I am committed to leading UWM through this transition and working with our campus communities to provide answers as more information is available.
Mark A. Mone, PhD
Chancellor