By: Sabine Martin
Fall enrollment at eight Universities of Wisconsin campuses is up this year, but overall enrollment is down slightly due to a “significant” decline in the number of international students, UW system leaders say.
Based on first-day preliminary student enrollment estimates released Tuesday, 96 fewer students will attend the 13 universities than last year’s final enrollment of 164,431, a decline of about 0.05%.
UW system enrollment had started to recover over the last two years, following a decade of declines, but this year’s preliminary data tempers that trend.
Tuesday’s news release did not specify international enrollment number — those details are expected later this fall — but did cite a national projection that colleges and universities across the country could see a 15% decrease in international student enrollment this year.
Experts attribute the loss of international students to federal bans and restrictions to their visa processing under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Dip for UW-Madison
UW-Madison’s enrollment is projected to slip by 0.5%, according to the system’s preliminary enrollment counts.
The university is projected to have 241 fewer students this fall, a drop from the UW system’s official 2024 UW-Madison student count of 51,791.
UW-Madison will release its own enrollment report this fall, which may include different numbers because of discrepancies in how the university counts students compared to the UW system.
But based on UW-Madison’s own numbers, the university last year broke its own record for its highest enrollment and has grown 13% in the last five years.
Rise for 8 campuses
The preliminary data is estimated from of first-day enrollment counts and could differ from the official 10th-day count the UW system reports to the U.S. Department of Education.
The eight universities forecast to have higher enrollment this fall, and how many students they’re gaining:
- UW-Whitewater, 323
- UW-Green Bay, 312
- UW-Stevens Point, 287
- UW-La Crosse, 169
- UW-Stout, 133
- UW-Superior, 40
- UW-Platteville, 15
- UW-River Falls, 2
Among the five universities with enrollment declines, the UW system projects drops of about 50 to 500 students.
But while enrollment dipped across the system as a whole, new freshman enrollment is up 3%, or nearly 900 students.
UW system President Jay Rothman said the preliminary data shows positive signs on enrollment for a third straight year.
“New freshman enrollment is particularly promising,” Rothman said in a statement. “It’s a win when our state’s public universities continue to attract and retain talent Wisconsin will need to prosper.”
UW-Whitewater saw the largest increase by the number of students this fall, nearly a 3% increase from the final fall 2024 enrollment of 11,752. UW-Stevens Point, by percentage, grew the most in student enrollment of nearly 3.5%.
The university also reported that it recorded its largest freshman class in a decade, with 2,459 new freshmen enrolled.
UW-Milwaukee’s freshman enrollment is up 11% over last year, its largest first-year enrollment increase since 2009. Overall, though, Milwaukee enrollment dropped by 0.3%, to 22,613, a drop of 0.3%.
UW-Oshkosh’s enrollment is projected to have the largest drop this fall, with more than 500 fewer students. The university noted it had a sharp enrollment drop to the closure of its branch campus in the Fox Cities, which closed this June.
UW-Eau Claire and UW-Parkside also reported an expected enrollment decline.
Initiatives in play
The preliminary enrollment numbers offer a first glimpse of the effectiveness of two separate initiatives in Wisconsin aiming to boost enrollment.
According to the preliminary estimates, freshman enrollment increased by 5% or more at eight universities.
The Universities of Wisconsin’s Direct Admit program this year automatically accepted thousands more Wisconsin high school seniors for fall 2026 than it did when the Direct Admit program debuted last year.
Of the 24,000-plus high schoolers who were directly admitted through the program in its first year, more than 10,000 responded to express interest in attending a UW school this fall.
The program automatically admits students to 10 of the UW systems 13 schools, with the exception of UW-Madison, UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire.
Rothman said the enrollment numbers are a positive sign the program is attracting new students to the universities.
The UW system in July sent out admissions offers to 33,523 Wisconsin high school seniors from 467 schools across Wisconsin — an increase of at least 9,000 offers — for the second year of Direct Admit Wisconsin.
Under Wisconsin law, a different program Wisconsin Guarantee requires UW-Madison to admit any in-state students in the top 5% of their class, and other system universities have to allow the top 10% of in-state students. Many of the schools already have acceptance rates of higher than 90%.
The Wisconsin Tuition Promise, another program that provides tuition and fees for students from families earning less than $55,000 after scholarships and other financial aid, is also positively affecting enrollment, Rothman said.
Source: Enrollment gains at 8 UW campuses offset by big drop in international students, system says,