While undergraduate enrollment in most University of Wisconsin System schools trends downward, there has been a dramatic increase in students choosing the state’s technical colleges since the pandemic.

Historically tied to population and economic shifts across the state, the 16 schools in the Wisconsin Technical College System are benefiting from a re-evaluation of the cost and value of four-year colleges and the turn away from two-year colleges.

The technical college system has also become a state leader in dual enrollment, allowing high school students to earn higher education credits for classes taken at a technical college or a university.

Enrollment across the technical college system for the 2024-25 school year is 293,904 — an 18 percent increase since 2020-21. The number of full-time equivalent students is 64,451, according to WTCS data, 11 percent higher than 2020-21.

Dramatically fewer University of Wisconsin System students are pursuing degrees in the humanities — including English, history and the arts — than a decade ago.

Meanwhile, degrees in computer science, business and engineering have soared, according to UW System data reviewed by the Badger Institute.

Economic factors like concerns about return on investment, tougher job markets and climbing student loan debt are the principal reasons behind these trends, according to the experts we spoke to.

“The number one thing is … students don’t see a direct translation from a humanities degree to a lucrative or successful job,” said Shannon Watkins, a research and policy fellow with the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. “I think that’s particularly so now because there’s a lot of awareness on return on investment with a degree.”

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About half as many students in the University of Wisconsin System are getting bachelor’s degrees in ethnic and gender studies as did at their peak in 2013.

Bachelor’s degrees focusing on gender and ethnic groups have been on a steady decline, from 157 in the 2012-13 school year to 67 in 2023-24, according to Universities of Wisconsin data reviewed by the Badger Institute. In the most recent school year, 2024-25, the total number rebounded slightly to 82.

SJR11, the first step toward a constitutional amendment that would limit the Wisconsin governor’s partial veto power, advanced out of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development earlier this week.

If passed by two consecutive sessions of the Wisconsin Legislature and approved by Wisconsin voters in statewide referendum, the amendment would restrict the governor’s partial veto to effect only a reduction in appropriations within a bill — not an increase. 

In 2023, Gov. Tony Evers infamously used his partial veto authority to extend a two-year education appropriation 400 years into future.

It’s hard not to laugh a little about the absurd state of our democracy and Wisconsin’s odd partial veto — though there are serious constitutional issues, and tax dollars, at stake.

Job postings in Wisconsin available on the job-search website Indeed, which had been falling since a 2022 peak following pandemic disruptions, have steadied over the past 10 months, data from the Indeed Hiring Lab show.

Relative to February 2020, Iowa has seen consistently higher levels of job openings than Wisconsin. Michigan and Wisconsin have tracked closely together, while Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota have seen relatively lower levels of job openings. Minnesota and Illinois have fewer openings today than they did in February 2020.

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