The number of students graduating from high schools in South Dakota is decreasing. And fewer graduates are enrolling in higher education, let alone attending South Dakota's public universities.
State officials are launching a pilot project to proactively allow high school students to attend college before expected demographic changes make the problem worse.
Universities across the country are predicting a decline in enrollment, known as the “2025 cliff,'' largely due to the drop in birth rates during the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009.
After that, the number of high school graduates will decline by 10% from 2025 to 2037, South Dakota Legislature Secretary Nathan Rooks told lawmakers earlier this year. Enrollment at the state's universities has already fallen from a high of 36,662 in 2017 to 34,372 this year.
Direct admission pilot project
Starting in the fall of 2024, some public universities in South Dakota plan to proactively allow high school seniors to select programs based on their transcripts.
Participating universities:
- Black Hills State University
- northern state university
- south dakota state university
- University of South Dakota
Participating school districts:
- Sioux Falls School District
- aberdeen school district
- spearfish school district
It doesn't just affect the university's bottom line. This will also impact South Dakota's workforce, leading to fewer children, fewer graduates, and fewer workers.
Compounding the problem is the decline in South Dakota high school graduates pursuing higher education.
That number has steadily declined in recent years, with the latest data available showing that the enrollment rate in higher education institutions (including technical colleges) was 67% in 2018, but 63% in 2021. It became. The share of South Dakota high school graduates enrolled in public universities in the state decreased by 4 percentage points over the same period.
In South Dakota, the child population is increasing in some areas of the state, such as Sioux Falls and Rapid City. But the challenge is that growth is occurring primarily among diverse, low-income families without a history of college enrollment, Rooks told lawmakers.
Some of these families may not encourage or encourage their children to pursue higher education. They may not think it is possible.
So the Board of Regents is facilitating that conversation, Rooks said.
The state government is partnering with three school districts to actively admit high school seniors to select state universities based on student performance and curriculum.
“The hope is that people who may not have considered higher education as a viable path realize that they have what it takes to succeed in higher education and strengthen the state's workforce. '' Rooks said.
This fall, the board plans to notify select high school seniors in Aberdeen, Sioux Falls and Spearfish that they have been actively offered admission to one or more colleges. Specific admission criteria have not yet been established, said Janice Minder, Regent's vice president for academic policy and planning.
Participating state universities are Black Hills State, Northern State, South Dakota State, and the University of South Dakota. Dakota State Mines and South Dakota Mines will not participate in order to collect comparative data and because their schools' programs are more specialized than other institutions.
“It's not going to move the needle on these institutions as much as USD-Sioux Falls, Black Hills or Northern institutions,” Rooks said.
The program is modeled after the early successful direct admission system in Idaho. Direct admission increased first-year enrollment by 4 to 8 percent and in-state enrollment by 8 to 15 percent, according to the study published in the journal Research in Higher Education. However, the same study found that the program had minimal or no impact on enrollment of students eligible for Pell Grants, a federal need-based grant for low-income students.
Depending on the success of the pilot program, Rooks hopes to roll it out across the state.
Minder said direct admission notifications alone will not improve enrollment rates. School districts and universities will need to place greater emphasis on services that help students adjust to higher education.
“Communication, combined with comprehensive services such as navigating the admissions process, filling out financial aid applications, and exploring scholarship opportunities, is critical for students as they envision a future in higher education,” Minder said in an e-mail. said in an emailed statement.
Rooks said the direct admissions program fits into a “key part” of the Board of Regents' mission to provide students with access to higher education if they choose.
“We're not Harvard. We're not an elite institution,” Rooks said. “We strive to provide opportunities for all of our students and want to ensure that we provide them with a viable path to success should they choose to continue their education beyond high school. ”
