WASHINGTON — Colleges and universities are anxiously taking steps to address a projected drop in the number of high school graduates in much of the nation starting next year and a dramatic change in the racial and ethnic makeup of the student population.
In Wisconsin, the number of high school graduates is at a peak of 67,283 this year and is projected to drop by 8 percent by 2018, according to the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education. The high school graduating class of 2018 also will be more racially diverse — down from 88 percent white to 78 percent, fueled almost entirely by rapid growth in the number of Hispanic students, UW-Madison officials said in interviews.