UND Enrollment

[SiouxMD]

UND: Enrollment drops - GF Herald

UND officials announced Wednesday the school's official third-week enrollment was 12,834 students. That's a drop of just under 1 percent from last year's official enrollment of 12,954. UND officials attributed the drop to stiffer admissions standards for incoming freshmen, instituted in 2005, and large graduating classes in the last three terms.

EDIT - I fixed my link.

[GeauxSioux]

UND: Enrollment drops - GF Herald

Corrected the link.

Enrollment Drops

To increase enrollment requirements, as UND has this year, and lose less than 1% in enrollment isn't bad. I had heard/read that President Kupchella is looking to level off at about 14,000-15,000. I can see that happening in a few years.

[The Sicatoka]

Reading that story it looks like both NDSU and UND have flattened out in terms of enrollments (plus/minus 1% is "margin of error" territory).

I think we're seeing the direct effects of ND's declining HS aged population.

Case in point:

Look at Hillsboro HS's classes right now. From what I've been told the senior class is about 45; the junior class is about 25 and no class behind that is more than about 32. Hillsboro used to consistently have graduating class sizes well over 50.

This tells me we, as a state, need to relook at the number of institutions in the ND University System.

[Rick]

This tells me we, as a state, need to relook at the number of institutions in the ND University System.

I think you're right. All you need to do is look any direction from Fargo and you can throw a stone and hit another university. Go West 50 miles and you have Valley City State University. Go North 50 miles and you have Mayville State University. Go South and you have NDSCS. Go East and you have MSUM and Concordia. Go down the street a few block and you have the UND Fargo Campus. The logical thing to do is to eliminate NDSU.

[roper1313]

This tells me we, as a state, need to relook at the number of institutions in the ND University System.

Do you think??

IMO, the State's needed to look at this issue 20 years ago.

I believe we have close to the same number of institutions as MN, but last I checked our population was quite a bit lower. This will be a tough row to hoe with the western legislators. Maybe we need to focus on building one of the western campuses to a larger regional university. This way we'll have the two national institutions, in the east and a midsized D2 university in Dickinson, Bismarck, or Minot.

Something needs to happen in the next 10 years or else we could see huge cuts in the future.

What does everyone else think??

[Sioux-cia]

Makes sense to me to scale down BUT I can also see the other sides point of view. Closing some of the schools will inevitably result in the death of a community. I believe that is the main reason schools haven't closed to date. Tough decisions.

[redwing77]

Makes sense to me to scale down BUT I can also see the other sides point of view. Closing some of the schools will inevitably result in the death of a community. I believe that is the main reason schools haven't closed to date. Tough decisions.

That's true. A lot will be lost with the closing of a college. I wonder if a town like Mayville would still exist if they closed Mayville State?

I also wonder what the effect on communities across the state would be if NDSBoHE closed down all but Bismarck State, Minot State, UND, and NDSU (Side question-- Since several programs are integrated already with NDSU, would Valley City State simply be absorbed by NDSU?).

[biff]

Valley City and Mayville would likely be the first targets of closure. Dickinson State should remain open to serve the western edge, they also draw a lot of Montana students.

[The Sicatoka]

When I'm king for a day, Williston, Bottineau, and Lake Region (Devils Lake) would go, as would Valley City and Mayville. NDSCS would also go because of reciprocity with MN and tech schools in TRF, Moorhead, and FFCC.

We'd be left with Dickinson, Minot, NDSU, UND, and a tech school (and common outreach center for those other schools) in Bismarck.

[Siouxmama]

When I'm king for a day, Williston, Bottineau, and Lake Region (Devils Lake) would go, as would Valley City and Mayville. NDSCS would also go because of reciprocity with MN and tech schools in TRF, Moorhead, and FFCC.

We'd be left with Dickinson, Minot, NDSU, UND, and a tech school (and common outreach center for those other schools) in Bismarck.

YIKES!!! I hope it's a while before it's your turn to be the king!

[PCM]

YIKES!!! I hope it's a while before it's your turn to be the king!

If you only knew...

[Smoggy]

I think you're right. All you need to do is look any direction from Fargo and you can through a stone and hit another university. Go West 50 miles and you have Valley City State University. Go North 50 miles and you have Mayville State University. Go South and you have NDSCS. Go East and you have MSUM and Concordia. Go down the street a few block and you have the UND Fargo Campus. The logical thing to do is to eliminate NDSU.

LOL. It's been a long day and I needed that.

[nodakvindy]

When I'm king for a day, Williston, Bottineau, and Lake Region (Devils Lake) would go, as would Valley City and Mayville. NDSCS would also go because of reciprocity with MN and tech schools in TRF, Moorhead, and FFCC.

We'd be left with Dickinson, Minot, NDSU, UND, and a tech school (and common outreach center for those other schools) in Bismarck.

If you make that drastic of cuts, I think it would make more sense to keep Devils Lake and Williston over Bismarck. It would be much easier to make use of the Bismarck State Campus for other purposes, like state agencies. It would also help those communities maintain their status as regional centers.

[Hammersmith]

I think you're right. All you need to do is look any direction from Fargo and you can through a stone and hit another university. Go West 50 miles and you have Valley City State University. Go North 50 miles and you have Mayville State University. Go South and you have NDSCS. Go East and you have MSUM and Concordia. Go down the street a few block and you have the UND Fargo Campus. The logical thing to do is to eliminate NDSU.

Cute.

[SportsDoc]

When I'm king for a day, Williston, Bottineau, and Lake Region (Devils Lake) would go, as would Valley City and Mayville. NDSCS would also go because of reciprocity with MN and tech schools in TRF, Moorhead, and FFCC.

We'd be left with Dickinson, Minot, NDSU, UND, and a tech school (and common outreach center for those other schools) in Bismarck.

While I agree with the closing of four year institutions (Mayville and Valley) with such close proximity to larger, more established schools (UND and NDSU), I would keep all two year schools to use as feeder schools for basic requirements into four year schools, with the possible exception of Bottineau. This makes geographic and economic sense, to me.

I would, however, reduce the non-traditional programs (read: expensive!) that many of these schools run and go back to basic freshman and sophomore classes that would transfer. Then allow for the non-traditional programs to be at one institution only, instead of duplicated.

There would be ramifications, both positive and negative, to any closures and consolidations. They are tough decisions. I would hope the BofHE and the NDUS would be willing to look at these programs and do what's best for the taxpayers of North Dakota and the students and future students of our system.

Just my thoughts.

[The Sicatoka]

If you make that drastic of cuts, I think it would make more sense to keep Devils Lake and Williston over Bismarck. It would be much easier to make use of the Bismarck State Campus for other purposes, like state agencies. It would also help those communities maintain their status as regional centers.

BSC has the fourth highest enrollment in the state (UND, NDSU, Minot) and it's in a growing population center. There's a need to serve there through the existing two-year programs and the distance education programs from DSU, Minot, and UND (and they're doing it today, so they survive).

At most I'd keep outreach offices for distance education (ala "UND Fargo") open in those (Williston, Devils Lake) towns.

Notice I didn't say I'd get elected on this platform and implement it but would do it when I'm king for a day.

[The Sicatoka]

Cute.

Clearly you've never met Rick.

[The Sicatoka]

If you only knew...

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ......

[82SiouxGuy]

Notice I didn't say I'd get elected on this platform and implement it but would do it when I'm king for a day.

Have they posted a schedule for your turn as king yet? I haven't seen a schedule lately, but I was sure that my turn should be coming up soon.

[GeauxSioux]

UND News regarding 2006 enrollment

Enrollment Figures

"In our Strategic Plan we identified about 12,000 students as our optimal on-campus capacity, and we continue to be at about that level," said Kupchella. "We have a very fine student body that fits comfortably on our campus. We would like to grow by an additional 2,000 students over the next few years, but this will depend on additional funding from the state in order to ramp up our capacity to deliver educational programs at a distance." He said UND, which already offers 31 degree-programs off campus, continues to make great strides in expanding its distance education opportunitie

[ScottM]

While I agree with the closing of four year institutions (Mayville and Valley) with such close proximity to larger, more established schools (UND and NDSU), I would keep all two year schools to use as feeder schools for basic requirements into four year schools, with the possible exception of Bottineau. This makes geographic and economic sense, to me.

I would, however, reduce the non-traditional programs (read: expensive!) that many of these schools run and go back to basic freshman and sophomore classes that would transfer. Then allow for the non-traditional programs to be at one institution only, instead of duplicated.

There would be ramifications, both positive and negative, to any closures and consolidations. They are tough decisions. I would hope the BofHE and the NDUS would be willing to look at these programs and do what's best for the taxpayers of North Dakota and the students and future students of our system.

Just my thoughts.

I tend to agree with this. I think Minnesota's community colleges serve as a nice model for a feeder system to the four-year schools, as well providing technical education for the local communities. However, I'm not sure if turning VCSU and Mayville into two-year shops would not be more politically palatible. Given its aging population, and the moves to larger cities on the whole, NoDak will need to do some soul searching to determine if its higher ed dollars are best served under the current model.

[Hayduke]

The logical thing to do is to eliminate NDSU.

Well, thanks for making me spew coffee out my nose early this morning!

[Chewey]

As one poster pointed out, this topic does need to be addressed and has needed to be addressed for 20 years. I've always thought it ridiculous that ND has had its two major universities only 72 miles apart. SD has the same thing. I think this shows a lot of the political power the east had back in the early days. If I'm not mistaken, Bismarck had an opportunity to get UND but the legislators out there at the time thought that the State Correctional Facility would be a better fit for some reason.

This issue was to be addressed in 1984 or so when the west wanted to transform Minot into DNU (Dakota Northwestern University) but the people in the east did not like that possibility. There would have been 3 major u's in ND and a few others would have been transformed into 2 year colleges or closed, from what I can remember. Having a university every 10 feet may have made sense 80 years ago when travel was a lot more difficult but having so many now makes no sense at all. ND has close to the same number of higher education facilities as MN but has 1/8 of the population. That population is decreasing every year as many of the farms dry up and as many of the smaller communities dry up with them.

Close Bismarck (I do not see the need when Minot is 110 miles away and U of Mary is there), close Mayville, close VCSU, Close Wahpeton, close Devils Lake. Dickinson, Williston, Minot, Bottineau make geographical sense given the populations they serve. I think ND can count on at least 20 more years of this because no politician is going to risk losing votes (most pols don't have spines anyway) so this situation will have to reach the breaking point 20 years from now when no one will be able to ignore it and when something will absolutely have to be done. There has been a mass exodus out of ND to MN, WI, CO, etc for many years and this will only continue given that ND really has done near to nothing to attract new industries (with the exception of Fargo and a few anticipated ethanol plants). When ND has 50 taxpayers and 35 of those taxpayers are divided up between 8 to 10 schools, we'll see some action.

[Hammersmith]

I'd like to see a total system of 2 research/professional universities, 1 four-year university, 2 junior colleges, 2 tech schools, and a couple of community colleges. Rather than every small college in ND trying to be everything to everybody, I wish they could focus on a mission and excel at it.

My king-for-a-day vision would be for several of our small campuses to be stripped down to a admin/support building, a dorm, a classroom building, and a tech building. Classes would be taught in 2-4 week periods by instructors from the other campuses. NDUS would then build a small fleet of semi's to haul tools and equipment from campus to campus for classes.

I also agree with Chewey that our elected officials(& SBoHE) are going to keep sticking their heads in the sand until the whole system becomes unstable and collapses. I wish we had leaders strong enough to jump on the grenade and deal with the issue.

(Personally, I only think ND needs one high-level university, but even I'm not crazy enough to suggest cutting either NDSU or UND back to a four-year or junior college.)

[NDSU grad]

Does anybody remember when UND-Ellendale was closed. Was there strong sentiment for keeping it open? A couple of years before my time so I was just wondering what the political climate was then.