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The Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges
and Universities (WAICU) represents and promotes collaboration
among the 20 private colleges and universities
of Wisconsin and their more than 56,000 students.
Each WAICU institution is a nonprofit, fully accredited,
degree-granting institution, but each is unique, with
its own mission and culture. All are open to people
of every race, religion, and economic circumstance.
All are student-centered, offering small class sizes,
individual attention from professors, opportunities
for involvement and leadership, and generous financial
aid that makes a private higher education affordable
for all qualified students.
WAICU assists these colleges and universities to work
together to enrich their programs, control costs,
and advance educational opportunity for students.
What is the WAICU Collaboration Project?
The WAICU Collaboration Project is a broad initiative
designed to control costs for WAICU-member colleges
and universities through consolidated administrative
support. “Back office” functions from
human resource training to health insurance to travel
management are thoroughly analyzed, and appropriate
vendors are found who satisfy the colleges’
and universities’ needs. In consultation with
appropriate staff on each campus, WAICU staff spearheads
the task of gathering information regarding these
projects (more than 60 have been identified). We also
obtain vendors and mediate communication and contracts
between the vendors and the member institutions.
In no way does the Collaboration Project compromise
the independence of our colleges and universities
in their primary missions of teaching, learning, and
research. Instead, through more efficient use, resources
are released to enhance the quality of each individual
campus’ educational mission and to bolster financial
aid for worthy students. Further, the thorough investigations
conducted by the Collaboration Project staff provide
better quality services for our institutions. Duplicative
paperwork and research by individual campuses are
greatly reduced.
Through the WAICU Collaborative Project, WAICU colleges
and universities are responding to rising operational
costs that plague all higher education. The Project
has already received attention nationally from the
press and higher education associations. It is expected
to become a model for other states that seek to control
college costs.
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