OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Because of declining enrollment and budget cuts, UW-Oshkosh is looking for strategies to trim costs.
One of the strategies is voluntary retirement incentives being offered to staff — another possibly being the shutdown of the university’s childcare center.
UWO announced it will permanently close the Children’s Learning and Care Center on June 30 earlier this month.
Chancellor Andrew Leavitt says it’s due to not enough staff and money issues.
“Which has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of financial stability of the institution. It was an outward facing entity of the university that simply isn’t covering it’s costs,” said Leavitt.
The center is licensed for 150 children. In the spring semester only 50 were enrolled.
“I have a fiscal responsibility to make sure all the operations of the university are covering their costs, and in this case, I came to the conclusion that it’s not possible for us to run a childcare center that will not continuously pile on deficits within that entity itself,” said Leavitt.
On top of the child care center closing, the university is expected to finish the year with about $7 million in reserves, but that could potentially drop to $2 million if no additional revenue comes through the door.
“Like many other institutions across the state and certainly across the country, we’re feeling the pressures of the changing demographics,” said Leavitt.
UWO will be increasing tuition by 5.9% for the 2023-2024 academic year after a decade-long tuition freeze.
Leavitt says it’ll help, but it won’t be enough — prompting his announcement of a voluntary retirement incentive program.
“I’ve done this program several times since I’ve been here, and it’s been very effective in lowering the number of employees without layoffs,” said Leavitt.
For the employees who take the buyout offer, the university expects to replace only about 25% to 40% of them.
“None of my professors seem like they’re at the age to retire yet,” said Joshua McDonald, a freshman at UWO.
McDonald says he’d feel sad if his favorite professor, Dan Schmidt, retired.
“He’s a great professor,” said McDonald. “He’s got a lot of life in him, so it’d be a little weird to hear that he’s retiring now.”
Employees eligible for the retirement incentive program and their supervisors will be contacted within the next two weeks with details about notification requirements and deadlines.
Interested employees would have to retire on or before Jan. 10, 2024, based on a formula for payout.
