MADISON Wis.
The University of Wisconsin System is about to get bigger.
More researchers at UW-Milwaukee. More adult students in the two-year UW Colleges. And more undergrads at UW-Green Bay and UW-Oshkosh.
The state budget signed into law last week allows UW campuses to begin expansions intended to increase the number of graduates and boost economic development. UW System President Kevin Reilly had campaigned for more than a year for the so-called Growth Agenda, which he called critical to the state’s economic future.
“This will put us in a position to start growing the number of college graduates in Wisconsin, increasing wages and attracting more college students to Wisconsin,” UW System spokesman David Giroux said.
The plans could add up to 7,700 more students to the UW System’s 160,000 enrollment over the next six to eight years and hundreds more professors and staff members, UW System officials have said.
The campuses will get $21.4 million next year to begin many of the projects, which will require more tax and tuition dollars to be completed.
