A Little Help: Is Financial Aid Keeping College Affordable in Wisconsin?

At a time when Wisconsin faces severe workforce shortages in several key sectors and demand for skilled workers has skyrocketed, enrollment in the state's colleges and universities has generally been declining even faster than the national trend. Enrollments in Wisconsin across all public and private institutions were falling even prior to the pandemic, dropping from 384,181 in 2010 to 332,856 in 2019. This decline of 13.4% was more than twice the national drop of 6.6% over the same period and was particularly pronounced for technical colleges and other two-year institutions. The arrival of COVID-19 has compounded the problem and added urgency to longstanding questions about how the state will cultivate the workers it will need to sustain the health of its economy and citizens, particularly in fields such as nursing, teaching, and skilled trades. This study reviews state and federal financial aid in Wisconsin, laying out the main trends and focusing on the handful of grant and loan programs that account for most of the dollars spent each year. Critical questions include: (1) How do Wisconsin's current levels of financial aid and specific programs compare to past funding and programs in this state and those in other states? Has their buying power grown or decreased over time compared to the cost of tuition? Which state agencies are involved in administering these programs and is the system efficient and accessible for families? (2) How does the picture change for students at the UW System, Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), or private nonprofit or tribal colleges? What does financial aid mean for specific groups of students such as racial and ethnic minorities and those from low-income families? and (3) What options should policymakers entertain after considering the current state of the financial aid system in Wisconsin, those of other states, and research on the impacts of different approaches? What are the pros and cons of each potential alternative? [Additional sponsors for this report include the Higher Education Regional Alliance, the ADAMM Foundation, and the Milwaukee Regional Research Forum. For the Executive Summary, see ED620268.]