Patty Loew:
We begin this week with our ongoing “Money Matters” series. Unemployment has been on the rise in Wisconsin and many people are thinking about a new beginning in the new year. Enrollment is up at colleges and universities across the state as people look for an educational makeover to improve their future prospects. "In Wisconsin" reporter Andy Soth shows you how the economy is affecting a number of higher education institutions in Wisconsin.

Girl:
What are you doing tonight, Mom?

Andy Soth:
Linda O'Malley is a busy woman.

Linda O’Malley:
I'm working three jobs to feed three really hungry teenagers. That's where the majority of my money goes, to the grocery store. I'm only staying afloat.

Andy Soth:
One of the three jobs keeping O'Malley afloat is styling hair at a nursing home. After years of making over clients, she is looking for a makeover of her own. O'Malley wants to go back to school for a nursing degree.

Linda O’Malley:
I really feel it's my calling.

Andy Soth:
Just when she was contemplating going back to school...

TV Commercial:
Do you need some direction in your life?

Andy Soth:
She learned about a scholarship contest at a local college.

TV Commercial:
You can enter our “Extreme Education Makeover” contest at the University of Wisconsin-Washington County!

Andy Soth:
The promotion has been done at a number of UW colleges, which are the two-year campuses of the UW system.

TV Commercial:
A total value of over $2,600.

Linda O’Malley:
The only thing holding me back now is my financial limitations. Please help me with an education makeover. We're ready and the patients are waiting.

Andy Soth:
The judges liked O'Malley's letter.

Linda O’Malley:
Remember that contest? I won!

Andy Soth:
That made it possible for her to start her nursing education with a semester of free tuition at UW Washington County.

Linda O’Malley:
It is a little start but it's the start I need.

Andy Soth:
While the UW colleges can't make it free for all they've resisted raising tuition for the last three years.

David Nixon:
It is our particular mission in the state to make higher education available to people who otherwise might struggle.

Andy Soth:
In this down economy the UW colleges have set enrollment records. In fact, enrollment is up across the UW system. Including four-year campuses like UW-Platteville. With its emphasis on engineering and other professional tracks is bursting at the seams with a 50% enrollment increase over the last ten years.

Carol Sue Butts:
We happen to have those critical majors for the future. In technology, in forensic investigations, in engineering, in industrial technology.

Andy Soth:
Platteville has a long engineering tradition but its recent growth comes from better marketing of the program in the tristate area it serves and from letting students from Iowa and northern Illinois pay in-state tuition.

David Markee:
It's a win for the students attending but a win for the state of Wisconsin. Because we're producing engineers.

Andy Soth:
While emphasizing career outcomes has been successful for Platteville, being too focused on training for a particular type of career comes with risks.

Rolf Wegenke:
The worst thing you can do is go with a fad. A few years ago in the dot com bubble it was computer science. Everyone should go into computer science. That bubble burst. Now it's biotechnology. Everyone goes into biotechnology. And that's a great field, it is a growing field, but things change and if you've learned how to learn and have those communication skills, you have those critical thinking skills, you'll be a success.

Andy Soth:
It's Private College Week and Rolf Wegenke is taking his mission to the air.

Radio DJ:
We’ve been hearing all day on the news, tuition going up at the University of Wisconsin. People talk about, well, can we go to private college, well, private college is more expensive. Well, not always, because there are a lot of grants out there.

Andy Soth:
A big part of the job is convincing people it's affordable.

Rolf Wegenke:
That's why we're having Private College Week.

Andy Soth:
Wegenke says the state's private school average annual tuition looks high at $22,000 but the average aid received total $17,000 for a net cost of $5,000, comparable to UW system campuses.

Rolf Wegenke:
We're committed to finding the aid, finding the resources so you can pursue that dream at the college of your choice.

Andy Soth:
That dream seemed under threat for some at Beloit College in the fall of 2008. In nearby Janesville the GM plant closing sent enrollments soaring at Blackhawk Tech and UW Rock County. At Beloit the down economy contributed to an unexpected enrollment drop. The college made a number of staff lay-offs.

John Nicholas:
We got press in TIME magazine and others, and put it out there not so much that the college was going under, but the college was responding quickly.

Andy Soth:
One year later Beloit's enrollment is back up to a healthy level and the total enrollment for all of Wisconsin's private colleges has never been higher.

John Nicholas:
Our piece of the pie attracts a specific type of individual, a specific type of student, a specific type of parent and the demand in supply is almost an elastic. They'll do anything to get here.

Professor:
Multiplied by the small differential velocity thickness.

Andy Soth:
Like any vibrant marketplace there is something for everyone in the college market. The challenge in tough economic times is making the sale. At least for now Linda O'Malley is a satisfied customer.

Linda O’Malley:
I'm happy. Happy to do it and finally go back to school and get going on this dream. A good dream. This is what I’m to do with my life, is help people and help them to feel better. I've been doing that and I feel a strong desire to do something a little bit more.

Patty Loew:
Linda O'Malley tells us her course work at UW-Washington County is going well. It will take her three more years of part-time schooling to earn her associates degree. Then she wants to go on to UW-Milwaukee to complete her training as a registered nurse.