Northern enrollment dips, accounted for

The headcount and full-time equivalent ratios are a little down this year at Montana State University-Northern as compared to last year's numbers.

One FTE unit would be one student going to Northern full-time.

"We were anticipating a decline in in enrollment based on the decision we made to reduce the number of students in our pre-nursing and nursing programs," said Jim Potter, director of university relations at Northern in a press release.

He added that there are 57 fewer nursing and pre-nursing students enrolled compared to this time last year.

"If we had not reduced the number of students accepted into the program, our enrollment would have been up," Potter said. "This reduction in students was done to improve the quality of our program."

However, the university did see increases in other demographics this year. The incoming freshman class was 10 percent larger, the Native American student population was higher and there was an increase in students signing into the criminal justice, diesel and electrical programs.

"Our Admissions Department has done an outstanding job recruiting this year," Potter said. "Many of the new recruiting strategies were very effective and they plan to continue to build on those successes."

Potter added that bringing back two of the secondary education programs will also raise student enrollment and FTE.

The reason the FTE ratio is lower is due to a new retention plan that "encourages students who are struggling academically to take a lighter load so they have more time to devote to their studies."