South Dakota higher education institutions plan for more collaboration to combat costs

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota Information Now) – Monday is the beginning of a brand new college yr for South Dakota’s public universities and technical universities. Whereas every new yr brings new challenges, it’s one thing they plan on dealing with collectively.

Stagnant enrollment numbers and growing prices throughout are challenges that the state’s larger training establishments say are rising rapidly. At a Rotary Membership of Downtown Sioux Falls assembly, leaders from the College of South Dakota, South Dakota State College, and Southeast Technical School voiced their considerations for the way forward for training. The answer: to work collectively on methods to save lots of prices and entice new college students.

Southeast Tech President Bob Griggs stated they’ll accomplish this by ensuring credit can switch simply between technical colleges and universities. That additionally consists of collaborating packages in in-demand fields equivalent to nursing and engineering.

“At Southeast Tech, we’re very proud and have had an extended historical past of working regionally with our four-year college companions. It’s thrilling to broaden upon that, doing extra now with the state universities,” Griggs stated. “These articulations are the muse for these college students to have the ability to proceed their instructional journey, and their profession paths actually from a two-year technical training to a four-year baccalaureate or masters.”

Vice President of USD Sioux Falls Jay Perry stated there’s been growing discuss between the general public schools and universities in South Dakota, in addition to the SDBOR and SDBOTE now greater than ever. He stated the trail for college kids getting an training is altering and changing into extra numerous within the state, whether or not they undergo a two-year or four-year training. Which means the simpler college students could make the leap from a two-year program to a four-year program within the state, the extra college students they’ll retain within the system and graduate.

“We’ve seen a number of curiosity and energy from the Board of Technical Training and the Board of Regents, and the person schools and universities about truly shifting some issues ahead within the final couple of years that by no means had occurred earlier than,” Perry stated. “It’s important for financial growth and workforce growth in South Dakota, for us to be collaborating between the two-year and the four-year colleges.”

These strikes definitely assist college students with the prices of upper training, together with a tuition freeze for SDBOR and SDBOTE establishments for this educational yr. However these establishments do have give and soak up making an attempt to collaborate with one another. SDSU President Barry Dunn stated with dual-credits and college students transferring in from tech colleges, they’ve seen tuition charges drop and college students spend much less time at college earlier than graduating. Whereas these are additionally components to think about, it nonetheless permits college students to get their training on the most cost-effective prices.

“Our job is to adapt our enterprise mannequin, to a brand new actuality of transferring younger folks in. Both from technical schools or from dual-credit,” Dunn stated. “We’re all on this collectively, and that’s to teach a workforce but in addition our communities.”

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