Wisconsin faces an urgent workforce crisis: baby boomers are retiring in droves, and with a decline in births, there are fewer young people to replace retirees in the workforce. Furthermore, it is estimated that 60 percent of American jobs will require higher education by 2025, while the most recent estimates from 2017 showed that only 50.5 percent percent of working-aged Wisconsinites held a postsecondary degree or credential.
As the economy continues to demand more college-educated workers, WAICU members are addressing the challenge. Over the past ten years,* the total number of degrees awarded by WAICUmember colleges and universities has increased by 7.2 percent with much of the growth occurring in advanced degrees.
WAICU members’ commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in the 45.4 percent increase in the number of degrees awarded to ethnic minority students over the same ten-year period.** As WAICU members move forward, access to opportunity for all students who wish to pursue college remains at the forefront.
*2008 to 2018, the most recent year for which IPEDS data are available.
**The category “two or more races” was first added in 2011 and is included in this calculation.