UW-Platteville experiences enrollment boom

Karen Herzog:

The fastest-growing campus in the University of Wisconsin System has a tri-state advantage.

Nestled in the rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin, 20 miles from the Iowa and Illinois borders, UW-Platteville's enrollment has ballooned 39% since it began offering a tuition break to students from neighboring states who pursue high-demand fields.

Under the Tri-State Initiative, which started in 2005, students from Illinois and Iowa majoring in agriculture, business, criminal justice, education, engineering, industrial technology, math and science pay the same tuition and fees as Wisconsin residents - $7,463 this year - plus $4,000. That's $4,573 less than students from other states pay, with the exception of Minnesota, whose residents benefit from the Wisconsin-Minnesota Reciprocity Agreement and pay $7,829.

It's an especially sweet deal for Illinois residents, whose own state schools generally cost significantly more than UW-Platteville, officials said. Of the 7,822 undergraduates who enrolled at Platteville this fall, about 15% were from Illinois and about 5% from Iowa - a total of 1,489 students.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 6, 2013 1:20 AM
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