UWL planning staffing cuts after low international enrollment
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — UW-La Crosse may be forced to make some cuts after seeing a decline in enrollment from one specific group of students.
UWL says it has about 60 fewer international students than it did this time last year.
Since those students pay out-of-state tuition, Chancellor Joe Gow says that has a big impact on the university’s bottom line. As a result, he says they’re going to need to cut six teaching positions and an additional one or two non-teaching positions.
Gow says there are a number of things that could explain why international enrollment is down.
“The current political dialogue about immigration is probably not helpful,” said Gow. “I don’t know that it could be singled out as the cause for the enrollment decline, but it does concern us because we wonder are there people in other parts of the world who say, ‘Gee, I’m not so sure I’m going to feel welcome in the United States.'”
Gow also says a drop in international students could have a bigger effect on the La Crosse community as a whole, because not as many students are contributing to the area economy.
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