Time to Scale Back?

By Joseph Marks, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Jan. 12–BISMARCK — With North Dakota’s population trending downward and some of the state’s universities and colleges working hard just to keep enrollment numbers flat, one legislator said he’s wondering if it’s time some schools switch to a two-year format.

Rep. Bob Martinson, R—Bismarck, said it is likely North Dakota’s population will not rise significantly in the future, and he worries colleges and universities banking on enrollment gains to bring in tuition money for programs may be missing the mark.

“We’re doing a lot to create more and better jobs,” Martinson said. “But there comes a time when you have to accept who you are.”

Martinson discussed the issue with Valley City State University President Ellen Chaffee when she testified before the Energy and Environmental division of the House Appropriations Committee here Thursday

Closing any of the state’s 11 constitutionally mandated colleges and universities is not a realistic option, Martinson said, but one solution for a state that can’t seem to grow its population is to reduce the scope of several of the state’s schools.

Martinson suggested some of the four-year schools could be reduced to two-year schools to form a community college feeder system for the state’s two major universities, UND and North Dakota State University in Fargo. He said two-year schools may do a better job of providing remedial education to students who lack basic skills for college.

He said a related idea is to gear each of the smaller schools’ curriculum to one or two programs they could manage exceptionally well and draw in out-of-state students.

“Maybe schools need to look at what they do best,” Martinson said, “find a niche market and excel. Tell kids across the country, if you want to do this one thing, there’s a school in North Dakota that’s one of the best in the country.”

Martinson speculated some of the schools could specialize in technical trades, which he said are under-represented in the state.

Chaffee said she agreed the state’s demographic dip and its effect on enrollment need to be talked about more, but she said she does not think it’s time to shrink the smaller schools.

“Changing missions isn’t a starting point,” she said. “A starting point is a shared vision.”

Chaffee said she believes the universities, the state and private industry can work together to bring enough students and workers in from out-of-state to counteract North Dakota’s out-migration. She said the three groups need to make a unified plan to do that successfully and shouldn’t begin the process by making expensive changes.

Chaffee said it is very expensive to turn a four-year college into a two-year college, because many faculty would be overqualified for the university’s new mission.

Traditional, on-campus enrollment at most schools in the university system dropped this fall, but many campuses were able to make up the difference with part-time, distance and online students.

UND’s total enrollment, both on and off campus, dropped from 12,954 in fall 2005 to 12,834 in fall 2006.

Martinson said he’s disappointed with the level of discussion about enrollment and demographic trends by the State Board of Higher Education and other higher education officials. He said the state’s been warned since the ’90s that the population would be shrinking and higher education has not adequately planned for the future.

University System Chancellor Eddie Dunn said the Roundtable on Higher Education examined downward enrollment trends when it first met in 1999. He said the group chose to fight the trend rather than submit to it and charged the university system with becoming more involved in economic development in the state as a means to make that happen.

Dunn said the university system has been very succesful at engaging more directly in the state’s economic health. He said that is shown by increases in research dollars brought into the state, an increase in the number of people served by workforce training, student success on national exams and by programs such as the Centers of Excellence. He said much of that information is documented in the system’s Accountability Measures Report that will come out in the coming weeks.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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