Robbyn Wacker: To a higher degree
As my presidency of St. Cloud State University draws to a close after six amazing, rewarding and challenging years, I want to express my appreciation to the community for the many ways you have shown your support and interest in your hometown university.
SCSU stands as a beacon of contribution to the local economy, injecting approximately $600,000 annually, helping foster a vibrant community supporting a rich tapestry of activities, entertainment and events — highlighted by Paramount Center for the Arts, Summertime by George, Lemonade Concert and Arts Fair, Great Theatre, SCSU Winterfest and Rox baseball. In turn, our vibrant community also provides our students with enriched educational and life experiences, and our community's commitment to creating a welcoming and safe environment for our diverse student body does not go unnoticed.
Our partnership with the people of St. Cloud and surrounding areas has been nothing short of exemplary. The spirit of collaboration extends to local employers and community leaders, whose engagement is vital to our mutual growth and development. Our alumni are teaching, providing healthcare, serving in law enforcement and leading in business, technology, human services and other critical career fields their SCSU education prepared them to succeed in. Our university is greatly enhanced by partnerships with local employers and leaders, for which we are deeply grateful.
I am asked a lot about how St. Cloud State is doing in light of our very real enrollment and budget issues and apparent changes in the campus environment.
The best way to answer those questions is to talk about what I encountered when I assumed the presidency. The enrollment decline, started in 2010, was primarily driven by a decrease in the number of college-age students, a result of lower birth rates 18 years earlier. And within this smaller number of college-age students, the rates of new high school graduates choosing to go to college has steadily declined, with an “unprecedented” decrease during the pandemic.
Additionally, skepticism regarding the value of a college degree and the increase in the cost of attendance has had a negative impact on enrollment. Amidst this, St. Cloud State also faces intense competition from hundreds of institutions within Minnesota and the Midwest. In addition, universities like Arizona State University are extending their reach into Minnesota with online offerings. Dual-enrollment students are earning no-cost college credits while they are in high school and taking fewer credits here to graduate. And while land grant and flagship universities like the University of Minnesota have not been affected as much, regional universities like St. Cloud State in every state have been particularly hard hit.
In addition, SCSU student characteristics have changed since the time when the majority of students came directly from high school. The SCSU students of 2024 are 47% part-time, many who are parents. Most are balancing working and going to school. Forty percent are transfer students. Twelve percent are international students representing 90 countries. Many are living on campus or in the community yet want and are taking some of their classes online.
That is a lot of change and we have to wonder why anyone would expect that things wouldn’t change considering how much everything else has evolved in the past few decades.
Given this context, it was very clear that SCSU had to urgently chart a bold new course to adapt to these changes. Minor adjustments weren’t going to cut it.
I am so proud of our university community who took on these challenges to repurpose our university so we could better compete, better serve our community and continue to provide a high-quality education. Our university came together to create our It’s Time strategic plan with a unique focus on strengthening distinctive academic programs, supporting our faculty as teacher/scholars, providing individualized student support and extending the university’s reach, locally and globally, to become the institution of choice for a wide variety of students.
It’s Time spurred a renewed commitment from the campus to explore innovative approaches, fostering stronger partnerships with academic departments and local businesses. These collaborations have greatly enhanced our ability to prioritize personalized student support services. We’ve managed to find the right focus and characteristics we want to leverage.
Our efforts have paid off. Our fall enrollment numbers show our first year-to-year increase in enrollment since fall of 2015, a 12% increase in new entering undergraduates, 11.9% increase in new entering graduate students, 16.5% increase in new entering transfer students and a 15% increase in the number of students living on campus. Our overall headcount is 10,134 Huskies strong.
Like turning around a big ship, we still have work to do to square up the decades-long annual gap we’ve had in revenue and expenses. That loss of revenue, a result of less state funding over the past 10 years and less tuition through 10 years of decreasing enrollment. However, turning the corner on enrollment for the first time in a decade is a huge success. We are on the right path, and we have much to celebrate.
So what do I wish for SCSU in the next six years? I wish for St. Cloud State that it will be the vital, thriving, responsive institution– outwardly focused, alert to the needs of students, communities, and business — ready to keep moving forward. To be a force for positive change and an institution adapting and responding to the changing world around us.
And I wish for the community to continue to be proud of St. Cloud State and understand that it will — and should — always be evolving to better serve our students, our community, our state and beyond. It’s a precious and significant resource for the community and for future students of all ages to access in order to achieve their own goals. It’s absolutely true that there always will be a need for knowledge, soft skills and confidence that a quality education like St. Cloud State University has delivered for 155 years and will continue to provide for hundreds of years to come. Go Huskies!
— This is the opinion of St. Cloud State University President Robbyn Wacker. To A Higher Degree is published the fourth Sunday of the month and rotates among the three presidents of the largest Central Minnesota higher education institutions.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Robbyn Wacker: To a higher degree
