North Dakota college enrollment stable

North Dakota’s 11 public colleges and universities reported 47,377 students for the fall semester, with enrollment leveling off after several years of growth.

The University System had 47,522 students at this time last fall, 145 more than this year.

The biggest decline in number of students came at North Dakota State University, which saw enrollment fall by 343 students to 11,609. 

After being hired in March, NDSU President Marshall Stewart set a goal of growing enrollment to more than 15,000 students.  

The University of North Dakota recorded its seventh straight year of enrollment growth. The state’s largest college has 15,908 students for the fall semester. 

Janelle Kilgore, UND vice provost for strategic enrollment management, said the freshman class could have been larger, but limited space in some programs meant a slightly smaller first-year class than 2025. 

She also pointed to strong retention from last year’s freshman class, with 82% of students returning for their sophomore year. 

Kilgore made her comments to the Legislature’s Higher Education Institution Committee that was met Tuesday in Grand Forks on the UND campus. 

Bismarck State College gained 119 students. Valley City State University and Dakota College at Bottineau also reported increases. 

University System Commissioner Brent Sanford, who presented to legislators Tuesday in Grand Forks, noted that enrollment growth or declines were small at most campuses. 

He said more high school students enrolled in dual-credit courses and slightly fewer international students in North Dakota colleges 

Sanford said nationwide college enrollment is down more 11.5% since 2011 while North Dakota is down 2.7%, though the state has been trending upward in recent years. 

Other states are experiencing an “enrollment cliff,” Sanford said, with states such as Minnesota and Iowa seeing a significant decline in high school graduates.

Reach North Dakota Monitor deputy editor Jeff Beach at [email protected]