Declining enrolment continues apace in the West Bend School District. Do they still have all of those same buildings as when they had 1,000 more kids? (hint: yes)
Despite being rivals in the past, West Bend East and West girls soccer combined this spring to form one co-op team.
This year the participation from both schools was low enough that the soccer teams could combine without having high numbers. There is precedent for such a move, as the girls golf team, girls swim and dive, boys swim and dive and snowboarding teams already function as co-ops.
“In fact, we were at the point where we would only be able to field a varsity team for each school,” said Erin Felber, the West athletic director. “This is not conducive to helping build a program and it isn’t safe for student-athletes to potentially have to play at the varsity level when they are not ready.”
Brings up the obvious question: which UW campuses will have to close due to low enrollment, and will the next (R) Governor have the………ahhh……….fortitude to do it?
Answer to part 2: nope.
Answer to part 1: there are 3 which should be in immediate-closing mode. Superior, Parkside, Park Falls. Close seconds: Green Bay, Stout, Stevens Point. Mix/match at your leisure.
Dad29, I don’t know if closing the campuses is the right move. But, I would like to see them start to pare down low attendance majors offered and shed some extra weight. We can make the schools a bit more specified in specific majors.
That works, too. Just so long as we’re not carrying an entire campus for only 70% of total capacity.
Dad29, I assume there has to be some thought process on what happens in the chance that admissions start to turn around. We can’t close and sell buildings and then in 10 years, need to find a way to house and educate kids again.
Now, I am a HUGE proponent of college. But, I also think that most of what we have in college can be replicated in an online environment. At some point we will have to take a future approach to our upper education system and costs. There are some majors that are harder than others to education online. But, I feel like we will be able to start to pare down campus sizes.
There are societal benefits that campus life provides as well. Between networking, experience, & life skills learned; I think that the college experience can be very valuable for many people.
You SERIOUSLY think that our Political Class has had some ‘thought process’ on campus enrollment?
IIRC, one UW campus did drop coursework. Maybe UW-SP? They took your track and deleted the sparsely-attended major(s).
As to re-opening: I never said “Sell the buildings.” They can be closed & maintained. The vast majority of college costs is in faculty, not physical assets.
And if college becomes virtual, well then, we can sell the buildings or rent them out to the illegals.
It will be a difficult decision. Because we have some students who would prefer to learn in person, and some who can easily take an online class. So, you may have a math class with an enrollment of 300, but only 100 show up in person. Then you will have to have testing areas or setup testing proctors. It is going to be a very interesting next few decades for the colleges.
I am currently learning a new programming language. I just went to UDemy and downloaded a class for $20. That is something that in the past, I would have to find someone to teach me. As always, we are at a crossroads.