Quote Originally Posted by Professorbum View Post
The last thing I heard on enrollment was that ND high school student enrollment at NDSU was stable relative to past years. But MN enrollment is down. MnSCU schools are doing a better job competing for those students, particularly in the Twin Cities. So are other schools in the region. You see Univ of Nebraska and Univ of Missouri planting recruiting staff in the Twin Cities as it is now seen as a ripe market for new students. It doesn't help that we had lame-brained legislators making very public statements about "why are we subsidizing MN kids with low tuition?" They were too dumb to realize many of them go on to become North Dakota residents, and that's good for the state.

Enrollment is important for so many reasons. Obviously, revenues drop with enrollment decline. But it also impacts our rating and prestige. Many folks outside of campus may not realize this, but our fall from the highest Carnegie research status as a university is in part due to our size. We actually increased in research the year we fell out. But when Indiana University took over the Carnegie classifications, the formula changed. It made it very difficult for a public university of our size to stay in that highest category. This is why getting to 18,000 students was so important. That number, with a boost in grad student numbers, is seen as the critical mass level for having the volume of research necessary to be in that highest ranking.

NDSU is a gem for the state. I suppose UND is as well. But the political short-sightedness when it comes to lack of support (financial and moral) for our research universities from our politicians is so frustrating. I think they long for the days when NDSU was just a solid regional masters university.
Statewide Minnesota admissions were down 2.1% last year but Moorhead State has 2 years of growth and a huge chunk of them are from Cass and Clay county. 25% to be exact. They were up in the spring as well. Curious how their fall numbers look. Clearly they have done a good job over the last few years while UND and NDSU are dropping.