All right. Hi, everybody. I think we've got everybody on the call. Give you a minute to set up recording. If that's what you want to do.
Let me know if anybody at this moment does not have an opportunity to record.
Very good. Well, thanks for joining us today. As we mentioned, we're on embargo till about noon. When our press release will go out. So thanks for agreeing to that. President Rothman will have a few opening remarks, then we'll open it up for questions.
I'll start recording myself after I speak and then turn it over to President Rothman recording in progress.
Okay.
All right. Thanks, Mark. And good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to announce that the universities of Wisconsin have just experienced a third straight year of enrollment increases with our final 10 day numbers now in the books.
This three year increase is the first time we have achieved that since 2010, well over a decade ago with the enrollment increases nine of our 13 universities have showed an increase in this year compared to last year.
And while this is good for the universities, it really helps us support our mission to the state of Wisconsin. And that's what we are focused on.
And that's new folks who are enrolled in our continued students will be the ultimate graduates that will help fill the jobs that the great employers in the state are filling are creating.
And these are the future teachers and nurses and engineers and data scientists and business people that our state needs in order to thrive economically and to win the war for talent.
I'm very pleased about those increases and being able to serve the state of Wisconsin of particular note is the number of Wisconsin resident new freshmen enrolled at our universities.
The increase was at a record rate this year. We had an increase of more than 1000 students in that new freshman Wisconsin resident class compared to last year, which reflects a 5.5% increase.
And certainly when I think about how that was achieved is certainly have to give a lot of credit to the enrollment officers and the financial aid officers and others at our universities who work day in and day out to help drive in Roman.
But I think it is also reflective of the impact of direct admit Wisconsin and the Wisconsin tuition promise that is in effect for the cohort that's that it started this fall.
In fact, seven of our universities participating in direct admit saw gains of 9% or more 7 saw gains of 9% or more in new Wisconsin resident freshmen compared to the fall of 2024.
Our overall enrollment this year with the final numbers stands at 164,626 students, which is about 190 students more than the fall of 2024.
And I think it's really indicative of the fact that our increased freshman enrollment offset drops in our international enrollment and international enrollment being down 7.7% this year, but our new freshmen coming in at more than offset that decline.
And we are very pleased about where our enrollment numbers, the final numbers have have turned out. So, with that, again, thank you for being here and I would welcome any questions that you may have.
Thanks, President Rothman. Marissa, can you start us off?
Sure. Can you talk about the additional closure of the two year bearable campus?
Absolutely. A decision that that platform made relative to that campus.
What we have asked each of our chancellors who have responsibility for branch campuses is to evaluate their financial viability in light of those campuses experiencing, at least in some instances,
declines in enrollment to a level that would not make them financially viable based on the relationship with the main campus.
That was a difficult decision to make, but I think ultimately it is the right decision to make for the universities of Wisconsin as we move forward.
But I think if we circle back and said, even with some of those closures, our Wisconsin resident new freshmen are up 5.5% this year, which tells us that certainly the accessibility that is in Wisconsin is important, and it has helped drive that level of increased freshman enrollment at our universities.
Sabina.
Yeah, with the clear success of the Wisconsin tuition promise this year, is it clear that it will, it will be renewed the funding for will be renewed in 2026?
Well, the funding for the one that was done this fall was a combination. We had some internal funds that we applied to it. And we also got a grant from a sendium group that will support that cohort over there for years.
Well, they're at our universities. There is not state funding. We have requested on in two biennium for state funding for the Wisconsin tuition promise, and we have not been successful in that.
We will continue to advocate that as we move forward. But as things stand right now for the fall of 2026, there's not that specific tuition promise in place.
Now, with that said, our universities have done an extraordinary job of providing institutional aid support that they provide to try to make education available to whatever student has the passion and the desire to attend one of our universities.
And we are going to continue to work that, but I remain hopeful that ultimately we will get state funding for a tuition promise, because I think it is important to the long term economic viability of Wisconsin.
Kelly.
Good morning.
Good morning, Kelly.
Good morning.
I'm wondering, can you offer any guarantees that the remaining branch campuses will remain open?
You know, I think, Kelly, as we look at the branch campuses, I think I've been consistent in saying they have to be financially viable to be successful.
We have some that are growing in enrollment, which is a good thing.
I think each of them need to be looked at on an individual by individual basis.
But I'm not in a position to offer guarantees, because again, we have to be looking at and ensuring that we are managing and being good stewards of the resources that we have and ensuring that those branch campuses are financially viable.
Todd.
I don't have anything. Thanks.
Okay.
How about Kate.
Yeah, I was just wondering, it looks like UW Madison enrollment went down slightly.
I'm wondering if you've seen that at all happening in recent years, and I guess what you might attribute that to.
I mean, that that's an aberration for our flagship, which has had continued growth over a number of years.
And I think I attribute it predominantly to the drop in international students at Madison.
I mean, they have a limit in terms of how many students they can take, particularly incoming freshmen based on their dorm availability.
But I think if you if you look at it, it is directly attributable to the decline in international students.
Rich.
President Rothman, do you think the drop in international students has anything to do with the president's.
His administration's approach towards VCs, you know, canceling some visas, etc.
Just the overall atmosphere with regard to how the administration is interacting with that group.
Yeah, I think certainly the availability and the timeliness of students securing visas certainly had an impact on our international enrollments.
And, you know, it's an area that we will continue to try to work on to try to be able to offer that opportunity because we think those students can enrich our universities in terms of providing diversity different perspectives and so forth.
Helpful not only to the students who are coming internationally to attend our universities, but certainly for students from the state of Wisconsin, we're able to interact with them.
Could I follow up quickly. I mean, I'm thinking about in terms of the tuition in state versus out of state, that sort of a thing. Does it have a bigger financial impact on the universities when they see a reduction in international enrollment.
No, it can because out of state tuition is higher than in states, so it has some impact.
But again, I mean, the number of international students we have, which is at about 10,000 compared to a base of 164,000 students generally.
It is an impact, but it's not, it's not a huge impact and certainly something that particularly our flagship is in a position to manage.
We'll see if we can get a couple more questions in President Rothman does have to run to a meeting at noon, but let's see if we can get a few more in.
Marissa, do you have another question.
Nothing else for me right now. Thanks.
Thank you. Sabina.
Yeah, was the decline in international students more or less for what the UW system prepared for.
Yeah, I think we've been preparing for that as we read the environment.
And so, you know, that is not a huge shock to us. I think as we look at the landscape.
But again, I keep coming back to the 5.5% increase in Wisconsin resident new freshmen.
That is really exciting. I think that is great for the state of Wisconsin and for us to have a, you know, a three year path that we have increased enrollment every single year during that period of time.
A lot of be exciting for everyone who wants to see Wisconsin thrive.
Kelly.
Yeah, do you have any, it looks like you had some data on like how many campuses are benefiting from the directed minute. Do you have any data on the Wisconsin tuition promise like how many students Wisconsin students are benefiting from having that program back with funding this year.
Yeah, we don't have, I don't have those specific numbers yet. Kelly, it may be something Markin can get for you. What we know that happened in 2023 when the tuition promise was offered.
We had an uptick in the participation rate, which is the rate of high school graduates going on to higher education. I suspect we will see the same thing this year.
And I think that's critical to our state long term because that participation rate like it has been across the nation has been declining over the last decade or so.
That's not healthy. That's not healthy for the state of Wisconsin. We're going to need those teachers and nurses and all those other professions that are absolutely critical to the economic viability.
And the, and the, and just quite frankly the quality of life that we have in the state.
Kate.
Yeah, is there any more you can share on the data coming from branch campuses specifically in the translate.
You know, I think we had a couple of branch campuses that were up in enrollment. We've had a couple that are down.
And I think Mark can share some further detail with you.
If you want to connect with him, but he's, he'd be the one who would have that. I don't have those specific detail at my fingertips.
Yes, I can certainly get that to you Kate and anybody else that wants it.
I think we'll leave it there. Thanks again everybody. Appreciate your interest.
Great. Thanks everybody. Have a great day. Thank you. Thank you.
Record.