MADISON, Wisc. (AP) — University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials are looking to sell the chancellor’s residence as the school grapples with a projected $18.8 million deficit. The university announced Thursday that officials will seek permission from Universities of Wisconsin regents to sell the residence along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Real estate website Zillow estimates the six-bedroom home is worth about $1.4 million. The university’s real estate foundation purchased the home in 2012 for $955,000. The university’s move comes after Chancellor Mark Mone bought his own house blocks from campus in December. UW-Milwaukee officials said they planned to ask regents for permission to sell the house at an upcoming meeting but did not say exactly when they would present the proposal to them. Ten of the system’s 13 campuses are expected to face a combined $60 million deficit by the summer of 2024. UW-Milwaukee faces the largest individual shortfall. UW leaders have blamed declining enrollment, a lack of state funding and a seven-year tuition freeze that drained their reserves for the deficits. UW-Oshkosh in August announced a plan to lay off 200 employees and impose furlough days on staff to save money. Universities of Wisconsin officials decided in 2022 to close UW-Richland Center, a two-year campus, after enrollment there dropped by 90%. Only 60 students attended that school during the 2023 spring semester, the school’s last. System officials announced in October that two more two-year schools — UW-Milwaukee’s Washington County campus and UW-Oshkosh’s Fond du Lac campus — will close this June. Enrollment at UW-Milwaukee’s Washington County campus has plummeted from 1,054 students in the fall of 2020 to 285 students in the fall of 2022, according to Universities of Wisconsin data. Only 291 students currently attend the school, according to its website. UW-Oshkosh’s Fond du Lac campus has seen enrollment drop from 733 in the fall of 2020 to just 196 last fall. Only 235 students currently attend the school, according to its website.
