“The demographic shift is coming,” Jones, a 25-year employee in the admissions office, recalled Miller saying at the meeting. “We’re going to have to change who we are. We’re going to have to think about how we do higher education differently.”

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus is Green Bay is shown Oct. 30. Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Across the country, colleges held similar conversations around this time about the need for reinvention. The sense of urgency stemmed from fewer babies born in the early 2000s that meant fewer high school students for colleges to enroll 18 years later. This population shift has wreaked havoc on the budgets of smaller, regional universities despite efforts to redefine themselves.

UW-Green Bay was on that same trajectory. But the data show something changed in recent years.

UW-Green Bay officials said they opened the doors to different types of students and embraced experimentation in an industry long known for resistance to change. Jones said the university became “loud and proud” about its open-access mission, serving all students interested in college that more selective institutions would turn away.

The approach appears to be paying off. UW-Green Bay this fall reported record-high enrollment surpassing the equivalent of 7,000 full-time students for the first time in its history. How much of its strategy is replicable at the state’s other regional public universities is an open question but one worth asking, as some say these institutions are facing an “existential crisis.”

Some of UW-Green Bay’s success is surely tied to factors beyond its control, such as its location in one of the fastest-growing Wisconsin counties. But peers are taking notice. Nine other UW universities this year, for example, launched direct admissions programs modeled after UW-Green Bay’s, admitting qualified students before they even apply.

As debate about the future of Wisconsin’s public universities ramps up next year and state lawmakers consider an unprecedented $855 million budget increase for the UW System, UW-Green Bay warrants a closer look.

“We’re thinking about college in a much different way,” said UW-Green Bay Chancellor Mike Alexander, who took over for Miller in 2020. “We’re trying to frame the problem differently.”

A different way to think about access

In Alexander’s former life, he was a conductor for the Georgia Symphony Orchestra at a time when many professional orchestras were folding. Like many of his peers, he pondered how to expand his audience.

A man walks by a mural commemorating the 50th Anniversary of UW-Green Bay on a Wednesday in April. Photo by Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“The conversation in classical music was that 3% of people liked classical music, and if we could just get it to 4% all the orchestras in the world would be great,” he said.

Alexander read a book by Boston Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Benjamin Zander, who proposed a simple idea: Engage with the other 97%. Maybe they didn’t actually dislike classical music; maybe they had only been exposed to it in a stuffy way.

Alexander broadened the orchestra’s music selection. He established a professional jazz ensemble. He created a choir. His youth orchestra grew to be one of the largest in the Southeast that didn’t require an audition to be accepted into the program, opening access to different students.

After Alexander shifted careers, he saw similar problems at four-year universities: too few traditional students and all the institutions chasing after them. What about less academically inclined high school students who weren’t thinking about college or saw it as too stuffy?

“We’re pushing in a way that reflects how the world’s actually working, not just the way it used to work,” Alexander said.

A third of UW-Green Bay’s headcount are high school students

By the time Alexander took the reins of UW-Green Bay during the pandemic, the university’s push to open access was already underway.

In 2013, nearly 90% of UW-Green Bay’s student body were undergraduates. Last year, a third of the university’s headcount were high school students in dual enrollment programs, where they simultaneously earn college credit — at a reduced cost — while still in high school.

The arrangement doesn’t sound like it makes much financial sense for UW-Green Bay. In fact, an outside consultant last spring even suggested the university’s new revenue model needed monitoring.

Alexander, however, said dual enrollment pays off when operated on a large scale. UW-Green Bay’s is the fastest-growing program across the UW System. What had fewer than 600 high school students in 2013 has grown to more than 3,300 in 2023.

“Different institutions have different appetites for that type of risk,” UW-Green Bay Provost Kate Burns said. “For whatever reason, our institution has really embraced that spirit of innovation, embraced a willingness to try things and see how they go.”

Dual enrollment typically helps already college-going students. A new program reaches others

Research shows students who take college courses while still in high school go on to enroll in and graduate from college at higher rates than those who don’t, according to a new report by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

But a major critique of these programs is they tend to be concentrated in wealthier school districts and serve mostly white students — students who likely had already planned to go to college. Research shows low-income, Black and Hispanic students tend to have less access to dual enrollment programs. That’s because some programs require students to pay out of pocket, which can be daunting even when the credits come at a discounted price.

A sculpture of a phoenix can be seen at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The phoenix is the university’s mascot. Photos by Tork Mason/USA Today Network Wisconsin

To address this gap, UW-Green Bay launched a new dual enrollment program in 2020 geared toward underrepresented students. The name, Rising Phoenix, was a nod to the school’s mascot and the university’s belief in the transformational power of a college education.

Rising Phoenix students take UW-Green Bay classes in their junior and senior years of high school. Many earn their associate’s degrees by the time they graduate from high school, at no cost to them.

Funding is fairly piecemeal: A federal grant covers some school districts. Other districts pay UW-Green Bay. The university foundation picks up the tab for a group of students from rural high schools who take the college courses online.

“There are naysayers that say, ‘Well, why are you serving high school students?'” said Meagan Strehlow, assistant vice chancellor for student access and success. “We’re building bridges to higher education.”

About a third of the Rising Phoenix graduates to date, some of whom previously didn’t have college on their radar, have gone on to pursue their bachelor’s degrees at UW-Green Bay. Another 60% enrolled at a different UW institution. Strehlow said one former participant even went on to Harvard.

Unafraid to try new ideas, UWGB experiments with direct admissions, AI text service

Beyond dual enrollment, UW-Green Bay has developed a reputation for being a bit of a guinea pig.

It was the first to launch a direct admissions program, in which high school students are automatically admitted to universities based on their grades and coursework at the end of their junior year. The program bypasses the traditional application process in an effort to proactively reach students who aren’t considering college. Nine other UW institutions followed in UW-Green Bay’s footsteps this year.

UW-Green Bay was also the first to launch an artificial intelligence-driven student support check-in service. A chatbot, nicknamed Phlash the Phoenix, proactively sends messages to students with multiple-choice polls asking about their well-being.

“How are you feeling about the start of the fall term?” Phlash asked thousands of UW-Green Bay students in late September, offering three simple options: “1) Good/Excited 2) Neutral 3) Nervous/Overwhelmed.”

Depending on students’ responses, Phlash sent them to the financial aid office, a mental health counselor or another resource. University staff got alerts if the student seemed to need immediate attention or intervention. UW-Green Bay has to retain about 10 more students per year for the $52,000 annual contract to pay for itself, Alexander said.

Recognizing need for engineering talent in northeast Wisconsin, UW-Green Bay launches school

In another example of the university’s trailblazing, UW-Green Bay launched its own engineering school despite “persistent opposition” from other UW institutions.

The UW Board of Regents in 2018 approved it on two conditions: UW-Green Bay wouldn’t get any state money to run the program for five years, and it would instead fundraise at least $7.6 million for operations.

The Brown County STEM Innovation Center is seen on Oct. 24 on the campus of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. Photo by Tork Mason/USA Today Network Wisconsin

The university also needed better engineering lab facilities than its existing buildings offered. But the UW System’s construction projects list is long. Many institutions wait years for their turn during the biennial state budget process.

Brown County and UW-Green Bay found a workaround, with the county agreeing to own a new building located on campus land through a long-term lease agreement.

“We saw the university as a very important piece of the puzzle” in fighting regional brain drain, Brown County Troy Streckenbach said.

The $15 million construction cost was split equally between the county, the state and the university foundation. Many donors were area employers clamoring for local engineering students.

“I’ve been here now for 30 years, and we have phone calls from companies and industries that we had never heard of,” said Professor Patricia Terry, who chairs the 600-student school.

Regional comprehensive universities face unique pressures

For all of UW-Green Bay’s success, there have been snags, too, some of which reflect the financial strain other UW institutions face.

Just this past year, for example, UW-Green Bay ended in-person classes at the Marinette campus, suspended its theater and economics majors, and discontinued minors in geography, international environmental studies, and physics.

The moves led some faculty to question whether UW-Green Bay was shifting away from providing a comprehensive education and toward skills-based degrees.

“As a regional comprehensive we have to change the idea that we need majors in every discipline,” Alexander wrote in an email to campus last fall amid a broader statewide debate about the importance of a liberal arts education. ”We cannot be all things to all people with our budget.  However, we are perfectly positioned to ensure that we give a comprehensive education to all our students and appropriately resource the majors that the majority of our students are choosing to pursue.”

Students walk on the University of Wisconsin Green Bay campus on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. Photo by Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Professor Jon Shelton, who leads the faculty-staff union called UWGB United, said the university is running without enough resources.

“We still struggle to support the growing diversity of our student body,” he said. “We have to make sure we have resources, and I worry we won’t unless something changes in the state budget.”

An outside consultant last spring hinted at a perceived disconnect between UW-Green Bay’s booming enrollment and a less rosy feeling among rank-and-file employees. The consultant also projected the university would spend down all of its reserves and be unable to support itself by 2027 if the status quo remained.

Alexander rejected the consultant’s conclusions, saying it took the university’s worst financial year in the past six to make future projections and didn’t account for revenue earned from one of its divisions. He said UW-Green Bay purposely spent down some of its reserves on strategic projects and eliminated its deficit last fiscal year.

University of Denver professor Cecilia Orphan studies the nearly 500 regional comprehensive universities like UW-Green Bay. Her research has found these schools generate more upward mobility than any other type of institution, yet they are underfunded compared to state flagships.

Orphan encouraged lawmakers to “let go of this very entrenched idea in higher education that unless an institution is growing, it’s failing.” She said institutions need help right-sizing for the realities of their enrollment market while still serving their region.

“What I really like about (Green Bay’s) approach is it’s smart, strategic and it’s mission-centered,” she said. “It helps them to strengthen and really double down on their existing mission, rather than kind of panicking, looking at potential enrollment declines, and saying ‘we need to do whatever we can to survive.'”

Rising Phoenix program prepares students for rigors of college

Green Bay native Aleya Bouche, 20, is one of the byproducts of UW-Green Bay’s new approach.

Bouche had long felt connected to the university, though more for its Division I basketball than academics. She dreamed of playing in the WNBA as a kid.

UW-Green Bay senior Aleya Bouche, 20, graduated from the Rising Phoenix program in spring 2023 and is on track to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in 2025.

A high school counselor recommended Rising Phoenix to her. Bouche had done all right in school but it wasn’t ever something she loved. Her UW-Green Bay success coach taught her how to study for exams, organize notes and strike a superhero pose when she needed a confidence boost.

Now a full-time UW-Green Bay student, Bouche lives at home and works two jobs to keep costs low.

Bouche, who is biracial, felt anxiety about fitting in when she was growing up. A psychology major, she wants to become a counselor helping others with their own mental health struggles. She’s on track to graduate with her four-year degree next spring.

“Then I want to go on to get my — is it bachelor’s or master’s degree? — whatever is higher,” she said.

Bouche doesn’t always know the right words to use on campus. She just knows she wants to continue her education.

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.