North Dakota Ag Connection - Highest Recorded Enrollment at Williston State

North Dakota Ag News Headlines

Highest Recorded Enrollment at Williston State
North Dakota Ag Connection - 02/15/2019

Record enrollment continues at Williston State College with 1,223 registered students for the Spring 2019 semester according to census totals released.

Released four weeks after the first day of a new semester, census totals demonstrate that enrollment at WSC continues to increase. The spring 2019 numbers represents WSC's highest ever reported enrollment.

"Record enrollment for WSC is exciting," said Kaylyn Bondy, Vice President for Student Affairs. "Being part of a team and having the WSC Foundation promote student enrollment, retention, and success is rewarding not only to students, but to the campus and our community."

Of this spring's enrollees, 889 students are from North Dakota while 196 are from Montana. The remaining 138 come from several other states, Canada, and other countries.

Headcount increased by 5.07% from Spring 2018 and the overall full-time equivalent (FTE), a calculation that shows how many students would attend if all were full-time. Total credit hours also represent a WSC registration milestone for the spring. Both FTE and credit hour numbers increased by 6.5%.

The popularity of scholarships - the Williams County Graduate (WCG), the expanded Regional County, and the Academic Achievement Award (AAA) - plays a critical role in WSC's increasing enrollment.

The WSC Foundation funded over $593,500 in scholarship awards, supporting 249 Williams County, Regional, and AAA scholarship recipients who are attending WSC this fall.

"These scholarships promote full-time enrollment and most of these students are on campus and engaged with the WSC community," explained Bondy. "Full-time enrollment and campus engagement are two primary factors contributing to higher retention and completion."

Early Entry (dual credit) classes also continue to be a factor behind rising enrollment. This spring's Early Entry numbers include 479 students producing 1,997 credits. These numbers represent an increase of 5.3% and 11.63% respectively.

Enrollment continues to grow at a steady and manageable rate, allowing WSC the time and flexibility to keep pace with expanding course and program requests.

"WSC administration and faculty are committed to teaching quality courses by keeping class sizes down. This is being accomplished through quality adjunct and faculty willing to teach overload," said Kim Wray, Vice President for Academic Affairs. "Keeping smaller class sizes allows our faculty to build strong relationships with students and deliver high quality instruction."

"WSC's spring enrollment growth is once again driven by WSC Foundation regional and county scholarships," stated Dr. John Miller, WSC President. "In addition, lower housing rates coupled with a housing incentive scholarship, tied to regional scholarships, significantly reduces the cost a regional student pays to attend WSC."

Other North Dakota Headlines