NDSU President discusses higher education challenges, tuition subsidies
Jul. 14—DICKINSON — North Dakota State University President David Cook sat down for an interview with The Dickinson Press at Market Press Coffee to discuss issues facing his and other institutions throughout the state. Cook said enrollment figures have been a struggle not just for him but for institutions of higher education throughout the country.
"Enrollment is a big issue, particularly in the Midwest, in the upper Midwest. That's certainly impacting the North Dakota colleges and schools. And so I think we just need to kind of continue to evolve and think about what our role is, and a big part of that is around workforce, talent, and helping our workforce and our businesses work together," he said. "For us, an integral part of that is working closer with business and industry. And so enrollment certainly is a big one. There's a national narrative about the relevance of higher education. I think, again, we start to answer those questions better when we start to address workforce issues."
He explained that a recently passed bill in Minnesota is sure to impact enrollment in the NDUS schools. The "North Star Promise" program will offer
free tuition
to all Minnesota residents,
including
those in the country illegally, if their families make under $80,000 annually.
"We're around 50% Minnesota (students). Not all students that come to us will be eligible for that program. But we're working really closely with (North Dakota) legislators now to see what our response could be," Cook said. "I think an ideal response is going to be, you know, thinking about how to address that issue. But also we have some more students across the state of North Dakota. And so we'll come up with a strategy that raises the boat for all the colleges, all the communities in North Dakota, for all the students and families coming out of high school who want to go to college."
Cook emphasized the importance of offering students the necessary mental health resources to overcome the stresses of life on campus. When asked how he balances that with teaching students to be tough and resilient, he offered a classic metaphor.
"We're trying to make sure we have the right kind of services available. We have to make sure that we can have systems in place where we recognize that somebody is struggling. And so these are all priorities for me, but I think it kind of goes back to the classic Do you want to teach somebody how to fish a little bit, versus just giving them the fish. And for us, we want to provide the right kind of support there," he said. "A big part of higher education, or education period is just what you're learning in the classroom, but just how you're managing your way through the college experience."
He said NDSU has among the highest ratios of on-campus to online students in the Roughrider State. Cook expressed mixed feelings about that. He also noted the university is taking steps to give extra help to certain categories of students who, according to him, are more likely to be "struggling more than others."
"NDSU is only 4% online... I love it, because I think a student coming onto campus, the experience is the classroom. But on the other hand, we need to diversify a little bit," he said. "An effort we call our Bison Broach, which is really focused on helping first generation students, PELLA eligible students and students of color be successful. We're bringing those students on campus early, we're really providing them the resources they need because we've noticed that those are some of their groups that are struggling more than others. We want to make sure that they have success, especially in the first and second year."
