Not a Fan of The Seperation of UW-Madison

If you have attended a University, you most likely have figured out that the University revolves around making money. As I watch the UW-Madison try to separate from the UW system, I see a key ingredient on the success of UW-Madison’s smaller sister University’s going away. I know this goes against our collective opinion on government sponsored programs, however, I believe the gains economically we get from our UW system are a worthwhile investment. I argue this base on retention of graduates from local universities from out of state and in state, and higher amount of taxes paid in because of higher average earning potential for college graduates and retaining more graduates within our states.
Retention of college graduates is very important to economic growth. While some communities can rely on local educational and research institutions to provide their human capital resources, other regions must continually import college graduates to fill high-end positions. Fortunately for Wisconsin has fallen in to the latter category. We as a state have been able to provide individuals with aspirations for a degree multiple venues to pursue and attain those goals. Further, most of these Universities have become a national leader in certain areas of studies, (UW-W – Business, UW-EC teaching/ nursing, UW-L – Kinesiology/ teaching, UW Stout, Manufacturing Management, UW-SP, Forestry). As the recruitment of college graduates becomes more competitive with each passing year, regional economic developers often emphasize the importance of educating, attracting and retaining college-educated workers in their communities. What has always been a very important part for “out of state” and “local” students for choosing one of our UW colleges is the affordable education, the flexibility to transfer all their credits to any of the colleges in the system, and the prestige of having “UW” on their degree. Simple fact is 43% of non local students stay in the area they graduate from college, and 70% of local students stay.
In addition to sustaining high-skilled workforces, college graduates bring income to a community. An analysis of the educational attainment of the largest 16 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)in the U.S. reveals that education levels influence median wages in a community, and drive wealth creation through the creativity and innovation of college graduates. Almost three-quarters of the variation in wages among these MSAs can be explained by education levels alone. So, a very simple way to put it: The higher the average education in a region, the higher the median wages.
To put is all together, with quality higher education either fact or perceived attracts more students to attend school IN Wisconsin. That would mean more “higher educated” workers in the work force with a higher median wage. That would produce more taxes being paid into the local, state and federal government. This would result in less of burden for all to carry, and lower percent of taxes for all. Of course this is a small piece of the puzzle of our state’s economy, but I feel a very important piece. Sorry Governor Walker, not sold on this part.