Maintaining numbers at rural ND colleges challenging, but for some students, 'there's no place I'd rather be'

Dec. 2—DEVILS LAKE, N.D. — Matthew McCollum, a second-year student at Lake Region State College, came to North Dakota from Oklahoma to attend college. Along with his classes, he's a math tutor and a student representative for Lake Region's curriculum and academic standards committee.

McCollum is in Lake Region's simulation technology program, the nation's only two-year sim tech degree program of its kind. The program isn't the only reason McCollum is at Lake Region's Devils Lake campus. He's been to three other colleges, and this one is his favorite.

"There's no place I'd rather be, honestly," he said.

He isn't alone in his choice of a smaller, rural campus. The past few years have seen record-breaking enrollment numbers for several of North Dakota's rural colleges and universities. According to numbers released in September, three of the state's small-town colleges saw enrollment increases over the past year, while enrollment remained relatively steady at three others.

Dakota College at Bottineau this fall has 1,180 students, up 8.5% from last year, while Lake Region State College in Devils Lake and Valley City State University have 1,810 and 1,754 students, up 8% and 6%, respectively. North Dakota State College of Science, with 3,140 students, also saw an increase of 6%. Mayville State University (down 6%), Dickinson State University (down 1.3%), and Williston State College (down 1.3%) all saw slight decreases.

The numbers come after a few of the rural North Dakota schools have hit enrollment records. Lake Region hit its highest enrollment number in 2018 with 2,072 students. Mayville State's record for spring enrollment of 1,151 came in 2020, and Valley City State's 1,754 students this fall is an all-time high.

Growing or maintaining near-record numbers at small, rural colleges does bring some stress. For Lake Region President Doug Darling, it's inevitable.

"There's always stress to build or maintain enrollment because our funding is based on the number of completed credit hours," he said. "We haven't been pressured to make huge growth, but we need to maintain and grow slightly just to keep up with inflation."

There's also the matter of having enough students on a remote campus to maintain infrastructure, as well as the limited number of high school seniors graduating each year. But, even with the stress that brings, Darling said having confidence in his school and what it offers makes it easy to sell what he believes is a good product.

Devils Lake native Payton Johnston, who plans to graduate in May with an associate's degree in science at Lake Region, said she initially was going to leave town for college. But, now that she's experienced the campus community, the programs available and the low costs of tuition, she believes it was a good choice to attend classes at Lake Region.

"I was adamant," she said. "I was like, 'mom, no ... I'm totally against Lake Region. I don't want to,' and then I changed my mind and it's been the best decision of my life that I stayed here, honestly."

She added: "100 percent I made the right decision."

For Daniel Driessen, assistant vice president of student affairs at Lake Region, getting a prospective student on campus is key. Events are one avenue, resulting in more than 2,000 participants among the nearly 70 fall-semester events that have happened so far this year. Erin Wood, the school's director of college relations, said campus visits and tours with family are another opportunity. Either way, getting a student to see the campus with their own eyes is important, they say.

"If we can get a student here for a tour, or one of our events, and they see how close-knit the campus is space-wise, that everything is here right across and they get to meet some of the faculty and staff, that's a huge selling point," she said.

The method does see success.

At Valley City State, for instance, Avery Thorsgard, a senior majoring in elementary education with a STEM endorsement, said he decided to attend the school after his campus visit. Seeing the community, buildings, students and faculty made him feel VCSU was right for him.

"It felt like home right away," he said. "I just felt like Valley City was perfect. The campus isn't too big, the people are very welcoming and I just felt comfortable right away."

Grant Larson, a sophomore also majoring in elementary education with a STEM endorsement, said efforts made by President Alan LaFave made an impact.

"All the other places I toured, the president didn't come out and shake our hands and say 'hi' to us and talk to us," he said, noting that LaFave personally greeted him during his visit. "I thought that was pretty cool and really spoke to how much they care around here."

Parents benefit from the visits, too, Driessen said.

Lake Region also seeks to bring back former students. Darling said the college has created a list of students that previously attended but didn't graduate. That list is then used to send messages to the former students, reminding them how close they are to their degree. Lake Region invites them back.

"... We tracked them down one by one — called them, emailed them, sent them a letter," Darling said. "We had a handful that came back and finished off their degree and it's amazing."

Having a reputation of being a true "community college" matters, too, Darling said. That means having a connection with their small host communities.

Lake Region is fundamentally integrated with Devils Lake, Darling and Driessen said. Members of faculty are members of community organizations, the auditorium is open to the public for performances and meetings and anyone in town is welcome to come to the library. Meeting rooms are open for public use — an in-town car dealership utilizes some campus rooms for its meetings, for example — and K-12 counselor workshops are held on campus.

Being so close-knit with Devils Lake and the surrounding area provides the image of a community college that Darling said Lake Region wants to embody.

In LaFave's opinion, the focus isn't on raising enrollment, but improving the university. That, in turn, leads to higher enrollment, he said.

"Let's have great in-classroom experiences for our students," he said. "Let's have wonderful opportunities for our students. Let's get them jobs, let's help them with internships, let's help them have a really great experience on campus and in Valley City. All of those things kind of contribute together, along with scholarships."

Scholarships are a big part of the VCSU experience — the same as at Lake Region. LaFave said 90 percent of VCSU's incoming freshmen received a merit-based scholarship this year, and last year the school gave out $1.9 million in scholarship assistance. In his opinion, "it's a really important piece of not just attracting students but then keeping them while they're here."

Driessen said Lake Region also provides a large number of students with scholarships, where almost any student who fills out an application will receive one. Some students graduate with little to no debt, which is helped with the college's low tuition, which is a "huge driving factor" for students to choose Lake Region.

"We try to keep scholarships high and tuition low," Darling said.

North Dakota's rural colleges each have their own programs that stand out and draw in prospective students.

For Mayville State, one is nursing. The program is operated in collaboration with Lake Region, which Mayville State President Brian Van Horn believes is important, considering the region's need for nurses.

Scientific research opportunities, supported through UND's INBRE (which stands for Idea Networks of Biomedical Research) program, are also available to students. For example, a Mayville State student is researching the binding properties of drugs, noted Beth Swenson, MSU's director of marketing and public relations.

Staff say MSU students also have time to participate in multiple activities. Football players can be in band, faculty can go watch different events and some nursing students work as CNAs in local assisted living facilities.

Unique, or hands-on, programming is common, said Driessen, Lake Region State's assistant VP of student affairs.

Students in wind turbine-related courses have access to a full room with ropes and harnesses to practice indoors. There is an automotive tech garage full of the proper tools for students, including full vehicles to work on. Simulation tech students have a completely functional simulator to utilize. Nursing students have multiple rooms to practice on mannequins.

The college is the only one in the state to offer a police academy. Driessen said students in the program all endure the experience of being pepper-sprayed.

To Driessen, it's that kind of hands-on work that's most valuable to students. Another example is how the students in the precision agriculture program are required to farm the acreage behind the campus.

Again, it's all about the experience, he said.

At Valley City State, LaFave said the school's top three programs are elementary education, business and fisheries and wildlife. There's also growth in its arts program, as well as outdoor activity opportunities like the trap-shooting club.

VCSU has a saying — "We all row" — that LaFave says applies to every member of staff. With enrollment, LaFave said the focus isn't on just building student numbers, but ensuring those students have a great experience.

"In order to (grow), everyone has to be on board with that," he said.

Even the community experience helps, some students say. Many of North Dakota's colleges are in towns that would be considered small. Devils Lake, for instance, has 7,182 residents while Valley City has 6,559.

Mayville's population is the smallest of North Dakota's public university host cities, at 1,783.

Valley City State student Tara Dahl comes from a small town in North Dakota; VCSU's campus, and the community itself, reminds her of home.

"My grandma actually came to school here and got an education degree here," Dahl, a junior music education major, said. "I knew right away that I wanted to be a teacher and that this was one of the greatest places to make that happen. ... It's a place that feels very similar to home."

Another perk of living in a small community is how it gives students a chance to become part of it, Van Horn said. While getting classroom experiences for their degrees, students also grow as citizens.

"The other thing that I'm super proud of is in a small community like Mayville, North Dakota, where a state university exists, you learn things outside the classroom very often in addition to the time inside a classroom," Van Horn said. "We teach a lot of values to young people to be good civic citizens when they get out."