Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann Statement on UW-Milwaukee Tech College Transfer Announcement
West Bend, WI – Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann’s statement regarding the UW-Milwaukee announcement to allow for transfer of technical college credits:
The announcement by UW-Milwaukee this week to allow for technical college students to seamlessly transfer their associate’s degree credits to UWM is a welcome change coming at the heels of the closure of additional two-year UW satellite campuses. I thank UWM Chancellor Mark Mone, Moraine Park Technical College President Bonnie Baerwald and their respective teams for displaying the courage to pursue this type of innovative solution.
Unfortunately, it was abundantly clear that the old model of a two-year campus was financially and demographically unsustainable and required creative solutions to address the changing needs of our students looking for options in higher education. I formed the Washington County Task Force on Higher education several years ago to address this issue.
In our Washington County Task Force on Higher Education report last year, we noted that it made the most sense for a community college-type concept under the governance of Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) to provide the pathway to a four-year degree for our county’s students.
The task force noted that an emphasis has been placed in recent years on seamless transfer of credits earned in high school, at two-year level colleges, or other four-year universities. It highlighted that students still run into barriers when trying to transfer previously earned credits to their new college of choice.
The task force findings precipitated positive discussion, change and action in handling the inevitable closures of the two-year UW campuses and bringing leaders of the educational institutions to the table to start finding solutions.
Once again, I commend the UWM and MPTC team for this momentous collaboration and strongly encourage continuing this positive momentum toward further enhancement and improvements to best serve the students, businesses and community.
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