Photo courtesy of UA system.
At a recent Board of Regents meeting, EAB Global released a report that contained data on postsecondary education in Alaska from 2010 to 2022, along with steps the Board of Regents could take now that the data has been presented.
The beginning of the report lists data primarily pertaining to the decline of student enrollment in the UA system that has occurred since 2012.
Enrollment into postsecondary education has dropped from 52% to 34% among high school graduates in Alaska.
For those that have continued to pursue a postsecondary education, enrollment in out-of-state institutions has risen from 37% to 54%.
There has also been a decline in enrollment of potential students between the ages of 18 to 24 pursuing any form of additional education beyond high school, dropping from 63% to 57%.
Along with year-over-year decline in student populations due to steady immigration and outmigration trends in the state, all three major universities in the UA system are projected to continue seeing a decline in student population.
The universities associated with the UA system are UAA, UAS and UAF.
The report outlines an attainable goal of increasing first-time and transfer students across the UA system. Across all three majors schools, the goal would be an increase of 910 undergraduate students by the year 2030.
The report also identifies that the Board of Regents would need to obtain an ongoing investment anywhere from $6 million to $10 million annually to achieve and sustain the growth goal.
It also encourages the Board of Regents to adjust its goal of enrolling 26,000 students across the UA system to 22,000 by 2027, focusing more on retention along with stable growth.
According to the data, the UA system has faced a reduction of $104 million in funding from the state over the last 10 years along with a $30 million drop in tuition revenue due to declining enrollment. To avoid shutting down, universities cut many staff, positions and departments.
According to the report, “EAB observed that some key units supporting new and continuing student enrollment do not have sufficient staff and operating capital to perform core responsibilities. Conversely, there may be campus units that are resourced today as they were when the Universities enrolled 33,000 students. This imbalance is putting significant strain on aspects of the Universities’ work and may negatively impact student satisfaction.”
The report contains primary and secondary recommendations for all major universities within the UA system.
Some of the recommendations include streamlining university websites and application processes, changes to transparency on tuition and obtaining additional scholarships to incentivize enrollment.
The report uses this same framework for improving retention in the UA system, with solutions including tuition discounts for full-time students, expanding and promoting two-year programs and funding retention efforts across major campuses.
The conclusion of the report contains program demand data across all three major campuses, showing the percentage a program’s enrollment has increased or decreased over the last five years.
The solutions provided within the report would require significant investments from the state and the Board of Regents.
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