Equity Snapshot: University of Wisconsin – Madison

Abstract

Public flagship universities were established with a mission to provide an excellent education to their states’ residents and are therefore well-positioned to enhance social and economic mobility within their states. Yet in many cases, too few low-income students and students of color have access to these elite colleges and the opportunities they provide. This analysis of racial and socioeconomic equity at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW Madison) finds large and growing gaps in college access, as well as troubling gaps in college completion, by race and socioeconomic status. To serve as a catalyst for mobility and equity in Wisconsin, UW Madison must to a better job enrolling and graduating low-income students and students of color.