Higher ed enrollment up again

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Enrollment numbers for North Dakota’s college and university campuses confirm that the University System is an education and financial bargain. Campuses large and small posted nice gains for the spring semester, according to reports released last week.

North Dakota State University continued to occupy the top spot for student numbers with 13,411 students a record. The gain is a 6.8 percent increase over last year’s spring total.

Down the Red River to the north, the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks showed a 5.4 percent increase, making the student population 12,733 also a record.

But the big schools weren’t the only campuses chalking up record enrollments. The North Dakota State College of Science at Wahpeton counted 2,401 students for a 4.7 percent increase, which is a nine-year high. Valley City State University’s numbers were 1,034 students for a 7.8 percent gain, the largest spring enrollment since 1991. Mayville State University’s 9.4 percent spring semester increase translates into 825 students.

Reasons for enrollment growth are many. Graduate programs, for instance, grew a lot because the graduate programs at NDSU and UND in particular have achieved world-class status. Excellent students who want to be challenged come to Fargo and Grand Forks. Those scholars are coming from all over the nation and the world.

But the overall growth pattern is not limited to graduate students. Undergraduate education on the state’s campuses is a comparative bargain. In that regard, students and their families who might be feeling the effects of recession know they can get good value for their investment in a college education. The diversity of the campuses from the large research universities to the smaller, more student-centered campuses offers a range of educational opportunities and environments. Prospective students have an extraordinarily wide range of education choices on 11 unique campuses.

Finally, North Dakota lawmakers have had the good fortune of a strong state economy that has generated unprecedented revenues. Appropriations for higher education, while never enough, have been generous. Combined with excellent leadership on the campuses, the system has evolved into one of the best in the nation. It’s a success story, one that will have many more chapters if funding is adequate and policymakers recognize success when it’s staring them in the face.

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