The South Dakota Board of Regents announced Thursday that our public university system’s full-time enrollment has decreased this fall by 541 students to 26,093. That’s a 2.0% drop, a sharp deviation from the post-recession flat-linage, but still 4.7% higher than ten years ago.
Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment 1997-2018
| Fall Term | System | % Change |
| 1997 | 21,714 | |
| 1998 | 21,917 | 0.93% |
| 1999 | 21,606 | –1.42% |
| 2000 | 21,616 | 0.04% |
| 2001 | 22,339 | 3.35% |
| 2002 | 23,008 | 3.00% |
| 2003 | 23,605 | 2.59% |
| 2004 | 23,534 | –0.30% |
| 2005 | 24,089 | 2.36% |
| 2006 | 24,144 | 0.23% |
| 2007 | 24,512 | 1.52% |
| 2008 | 24,926 | 1.69% |
| 2009 | 25,468 | 2.17% |
| 2010 | 26,625 | 4.54% |
| 2011 | 26,720 | 0.35% |
| 2012 | 26,468 | –0.94% |
| 2013 | 26,782 | 1.18% |
| 2014 | 26,737 | –0.17% |
| 2015 | 26,684 | –0.20% |
| 2016 | 26,600 | –0.32% |
| 2017 | 26,634 | 0.13% |
| 2018 | 26,093 | –2.03% |
The Regents say the Obama economy and high tuition are pulling down their enrollments:
“In a strong economy, potential students often choose work over education, particularly if they simply do not have the sources of money and support they need,” said Paul B. Beran, the regents’ executive director and CEO. “Many of our students struggle with the costs of a college education. That’s why we are developing plans to present to the Governor and legislature for scholarship and need-based financial aid support that will make higher education a reality for more students” [SD Board of Regents, press release, 2018.09.20].
Bob Mercer has fun comparing the levels of spin in each university’s public relations response. USD mentioned nothing but positive sub-statistics; Northern led with growth sub-stats and buried the overall drop, explaining it away as a result of a uniquely small senior class. The School of Mines and SDSU press offices simply kept their mouths shut. Only Black Hills State acknowledged (but still minimized) the dip up front:
Enrollment at Black Hills State University is down slightly this year paralleling enrollment trends across the state and region. This fall 4,035 students are enrolled at BHSU.
BHSU officials noted that many factors, including fewer high school graduates in the region, record-breaking graduation numbers in recent years, and a strong regional economy with low unemployment rates as factors affecting university enrollment.
“Regionally, enrollment at universities continues to show a decline. BHSU has a slight decline in overall enrollment this year too,” BHSU President Dr. Tom Jackson, Jr., said. “This was an expected dip in enrollment that reflects our record increase in the number of students who graduated recently” [BHSU, “BHSU Experiences a Slight Decline in Enrollment,” 2018.09.20].
Only DSU got to write the purely happy release. Madison’s computer school bucked the statewide decline and added 48 full-time equivalents, a 2.4% increase over 2017. DSU happily notes that’s their 18th increase in 20 years; the Regental system as a whole as seen enrollment increase in only 13 of the last 20 years.
Have international enrollments gone done in all of these schools?
Aren’t the Regents pushing 2year schools anyway? Has their enrollment gone up?
Jerry, that’s an interesting question. The SDBOR enrollment dashboard includes an “International” category under its “Ethnicity” filter. When I check that box, the chart shows that non-resident “International” rose from 1,429 in Fall 2014 to 1,769 in Fall 2016, then dropped to 1,562 this fall. The 143 fewer international students this year compared to list constitute 26% of the net drop in systemwide enrollment, even though non-resident international students only made up 6.4% of last year’s systemwide enrollment and make up only 6.0% of this year’s.
Worth noting in support of the economic argument: enrollment of students age 24 and over has dropped steadily over the last four years, from 11,156 in Fall 2014 to 9,231 this fall, down 17.2% over that time. The only growth age-wise is in the under-18 (dual credit!) crowd, rising over the last four years from 1,562 to 2,989, a 91% increase.
Ah, remember, Mike, the Regents aren’t pushing vo-techs. Those schools are completely outside of the Regents’ bailiwick.
Cory,
Please note that the term vo-tech is no longer in use and hasn’t been for several years. They are referred to as Technical Institutes. Thanks