UW System Enrollment Down Slightly This Fall
Decline in international students a key factor. But total enrollment up at UWM.
Students walking along Johnson Street on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Bill Martens/WPR
Direct admission and high school dual enrollment programs kept overall enrollment figures from dropping significantly this year across at the state’s four-year public universities, despite a drop in international students.
Overall enrollment totaled 164,579 in fall 2026, according to 10th day enrollment figures, released Friday by the Universities of Wisconsin.
That’s a decrease of 1,233 students, or 0.7 percent from fall 2025.
Much of the overall decline was attributable to international enrollment, which decreased by 1,134 students to 8,889. Mark Pitsch, UW spokesperson, said the universities continue to monitor international enrollment trends and will try to “maximize enrollment opportunities.”
Wisconsin’s flagship university, UW-Madison, had a slight decline in enrollment this year. Six other universities — Eau Claire, La Crosse, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls and Stevens Point — also saw declines.
Enrollment increased at six state universities — UW-Green Bay, Milwaukee, Parkside, Stout, Superior and Whitewater.
Tuition and fees account for about 22 percent of total revenue for university campuses, said Pitsch.
Jeff Selingo, an author who has focused on higher education, said regional public universities across the country will continue to struggle with enrollment because fewer students are graduating from high school and fewer high school graduates are going to college.
Selingo said consolidation and closure of four-year campuses is nearly impossible, so the focus should be on the schools differentiating from each other.
“They can’t offer all of these programs that they’ve always offered at every campus,” Selingo said. Instead, one school could focus on nursing, another engineering, another education, Selingo suggested.
“This way they all don’t look the same to students, which they do right now,” he said.
The Universities of Wisconsin enrolled 28,442 first-year students this fall, just 38 fewer than fall 2025.
Direct Admit Wisconsin continued to expand its reach — the program offers automatic early admission to Wisconsin high school juniors who meet grade point average and course requirements. About 7,200 first-year students enrolled through Direct Admit in fall 2026, up from about 5,200 in fall 2025.
Direct Admit students account for 46 percent of first-year enrollment at participating UW universities.
Ten of the UW system’s 13 campuses are taking part. UW-Madison, UW-Eau Claire and UW-LaCrosse are not participating, but starting next fall, UW-Eau Claire will join the program.
Students are also increasingly getting an early start on their UW education by taking college courses at universities or technical colleges while they are still in high school through dual enrollment classes.
High school special enrollment reached a record 14,579 students, an increase of 857 students, or 6.2 percent, from fall 2025.
Selingo called direct admit programs happening across the country the “latest fad” in college admissions. He says the problem is students who would typically go to college will now be faced with multiple options but still no plans for how to pay for college.
“It’s really no different than those students who would apply to eight, 10, or 12 colleges and wait for an acceptance to one of them,” Selingo said. “Well, now they have acceptances from five or 10 institutions, and they really still don’t know what to do.”
Universities of Wisconsin enrollment decreases slightly this fall was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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