Welcome to a new school year. I’m glad you are here!

There are a lot of new faces on campus this year. A record 13,807 students have enrolled at the 13 University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses this fall.  At UW-Marathon County, there are 1,382 students this fall.

Whether you are fresh from high school or are returning to school after having been in the workforce, I congratulate you for having made a good choice, not only for your personal prosperity, but for the prosperity of Wisconsin.

We need more college graduates in Wisconsin because that correlates directly to a stronger economy and higher personal incomes. Right now, Wisconsin falls below the national average for college grads, so we have some ground to make up.

Over their careers, college graduates can expect to earn one million dollars more – that’s $1,000,000 more – than high school graduates.  In today’s global economy, that gap will likely grow wider.

You can maximize your chances for sharing in that prosperity by planning to stay at UW-Marathon County, until you have earned at least 60 credits. That’s the equivalent of going through your freshman and sophomore years here.

I don’t say that just because UW-Marathon County has the lowest tuition in the UW System, although that’s important. More importantly, we have found that more than 70 percent of UW Colleges students who transfer with junior status go on to earn their bachelor’s degrees. That’s a higher percentage of success than your friends who start out at a four-year campus and a greater percentage than students who leave here before completing two years of credits.

In fact, many of our former students have told me that they feel so well-prepared that they consider their new institutions less rigorous.  Now that’s an extraordinary compliment and it speaks volumes about the high level of academic quality at UW-Marathon County.

One last thing.  As classes begin, I urge you to pay attention to the warnings about the H1N1 flu. Unlike other versions of flu, this one tends to target young people. It may sound odd for the chancellor to tell you to stay out of class, but for everyone’s protection, that’s exactly what you should do if you get the flu. For a list of symptoms and the latest information about H1N1, visit your campus flu website.

Welcome and I wish you all the very best as we begin this exciting new academic year!