Enrollment
WAICU-member colleges and universities currently enroll more than 60,000 students.  More than two-thirds of WAICU students are from Wisconsin.
 
Racial/Ethnic Diversity
In 2008, 12.8 percent of Wisconsin private college students were members of minority groups; approximately 40 percent of enrolled students were non-traditional (age 25 or over).  The UW System had a 10.3 percent minority enrollment and 22 percent of its students were age 25 or over.

Educational Opportunity
Students who qualify for the federal Pell Grant (by definition, those with significant financial need) constitute a higher percentage of enrolled students at Wisconsin private colleges than at 4-year UW System institutions.
 
Financial Aid
The average price for tuition and fees at a Wisconsin private college or university during 2007-2008 was $22,033.  The average freshman financial aid package was $16,797, leaving average net tuition costs of just $5,236.  (Additional costs for room and board are comparable in the public and private sectors.)

More than 90 percent of full-time undergraduates at private colleges in Wisconsin receive financial aid.  Grants, which do not have to be paid back, make up 70 percent of the average financial aid package.

State Funding
The Wisconsin Tuition Grant (WTG) is the primary state-funded need-based financial aid program for students attending private colleges.  The 2008-09 WTG appropriation of $26.1 million represented less than two percent of all state funds appropriated for higher education.

Leveraging State Tax Dollars
Private higher education is a bargain for state taxpayers.  Each full-time-equivalent student attending the UW System is supported by a state taxpayer subsidy of more than $8,041 per year, while the comparable support for a full-time-equivalent private student is just $542 per year. 

Educational Productivity
Each year, Wisconsin’s private institutions produce more than 12,000 graduates, the majority of whom remain in Wisconsin.  WAICU members grant 26 percent of Wisconsin’s bachelor’s degrees and 32 percent of the advanced degrees.

Among the bachelor’s degrees, the private colleges produce 29 percent of Wisconsin’s engineering graduates, 30 percent of the computer science graduates, 33 percent of the business graduates, and 51 percent of the nursing graduates. 

At the graduate level, WAICU members produce 47 percent of the business degrees, 51 percent of the nursing degrees, 73 percent of the physician assistant degrees, and 100 percent of the dentistry degrees.

Personal Attention
The average class size in Wisconsin’s private colleges is just 17 students and the student/faculty ratio is 13:1.  This personal interaction is just one reason that the majority of students graduating from private colleges do so in four years.