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Enrollment is on the rise at 2024 �����������ϳԹ� (�����������ϳԹ�), where new student enrollment has increased by 9% this fall compared to last fall, and some academic programs have experienced year-over-year increases of up to 60%.

The greatest gains have been seen in some of �����������ϳԹ�’s most in-demand academic programs, including year-over-year new student growth in: 

• Dental: 60%
• Heath Sciences: 60% 
• IT and Cybersecurity: 50%
• Nursing: 15%
• Business: 13%

Not only are there more students enrolled at �����������ϳԹ� now than there were a year ago, but students are also taking on higher credit loads, on average. Full-time enrollment at the college has risen by 5.8%.

“We’re all happy to be seeing more students in our hallways and classrooms again, and there’s a great amount of energy on our campuses right now,” says �����������ϳԹ� President Carrie Brimhall. “We still have more room to grow, but there’s a feeling among our staff and faculty that things are finally getting back to where they were before the pandemic.”

Enrollment at �����������ϳԹ� – as at many other colleges in Minnesota – has been trending upward for the past two years after more than a decade of enrollment declines that were exacerbated by the pandemic. Higher education leaders view the recent increases as a sign of a return to normalcy; students who postponed their college experience during the pandemic era, or who stopped out to take advantage of a hot job market, are now venturing back into their educational goals.

Additional factors, like greater college affordability, flexible learning models and class schedules, and high-quality academic programming, are also credited with driving enrollment back up – at �����������ϳԹ� as well as other colleges and universities within the Minnesota State system, of which �����������ϳԹ� is a part. A press release shared by the system in mid-October attributes the upward momentum to, “initiatives focused on keeping the cost of college affordable for all Minnesotans while delivering quality programming and instruction.”

Such initiatives at �����������ϳԹ� include a cutting-edge simulation training center for dental students, which opened within the past two years, and similarly, a comprehensive simulation training center for healthcare students, slated to open later this year. These unique centers offer the kind of high-tech, hands-on training that students and employers prefer, and their development has likely contributed to the double-digit enrollment increases these programs have seen since last fall.

Statewide, a new initiative that appears to be impacting enrollment is the North Star Promise (NSP) scholarship program. This program provides free college tuition for Minnesota students with a family Adjusted Gross Income below $80,000. The program was widely promoted last year and went into effect this fall. It currently benefits about 12,000 students across the state.

At �����������ϳԹ�, 176 students are attending tuition-free this fall because of the NSP, and another 782 received partial funding through the program. All told, the NSP is saving �����������ϳԹ� students over $580,000.

“I’d like to think it made a difference in enrollment,” says Sharlene Allen, �����������ϳԹ�’s director of financial aid and records. “The promotion of having this scholarship option available could have spurred some students to think more seriously about attending college, and, for Minnesota students, to choose a school in Minnesota.”