Lower birth rates during the recession, rising immigration rates and an increase in second generation college students are developing new trends in higher enrollment across the country, according to Nathan Grawe, a professor at Carleton College and author of “Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education”.
Grawe was the keynote speaker at St. Cloud State University’s first Data-Informed Campus Symposium on “The Future of Enrollment at SCSU” held Nov. 29 in conjunction with St. Cloud Technical & Community College.
The event drew faculty, staff members and administrators from across the two campuses to learn about how St. Cloud State is responding to the changing demographics in Minnesota and throughout the country.
“We had great participation from both faculty and staff, and they heard a good message about how belonging matters to our students and that faculty are at the lead at helping our students feel like they belong here,” said School of Public Affairs Dean King Banaian, symposium moderator. “That’s a great message for faculty to take from this I think our staff got great advice about demographics about geography a little about economic impact.”
The symposium featured presentations from Analytics and Institutional Research, the Department of Geography and Planning, University College, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the School of Public Affairs.
The day-long event ended with a presentation on using data in Strategic Enrollment Management planning by Caroline Painter and Anika Olsen, representatives from EAB.
“I think all together everyone who came got something of value to take back to their work group,” Banaian said.
All the slides from all the presentations will be available for viewing soon. A notification will go out to faculty and staff when those slides are available.
