State News
Enrollment cap at SDSU suggested
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
FarkThe Associated Press
ABERDEEN - Limiting enrollment at South Dakota State University might steer students to the five other public universities in the state, a Northern State University administrator said.
The idea came from Bob Olson, Northern State's athletic director, at a public forum on higher education held in Aberdeen on Tuesday.
A few states have capped enrollment at land-grant universities, said Tad Perry, executive director of the South Dakota Board of Regents.
"But I don't know of too many," he said.
"The regents have talked about it," added Regents' President Harvey Jewett of Aberdeen. "But I don't think there's any sense it would work or benefit other schools."
Land-grant universities were authorized by federal laws passed in the 1860s; the acts funded the universities by granting federally controlled land to states. SDSU is South Dakota's only land-grant university.
There's no guarantee that students denied admission to SDSU would go to another public university in South Dakota; they might just get mad and go elsewhere, Jewett said.
There are, however, indirect ways to cap enrollment, such as raising admission standards, he said.
SDSU President David Chicoine has said he believes the university will see limited growth beyond 13,000 or perhaps 15,000 students.
It is the state's largest university with enrollment of 11,706 this fall.
Declining high school enrollment and crowded facilities at SDSU will limit enrollment growth, Chicoine said.
The Aberdeen forum was hosted by Aberdeen area legislators.
Al Heuton, with the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, sent an e-mail encouraging people to attend a similar higher education forum scheduled Monday in Brookings and made reference to the Aberdeen forum.
"Although these are public comments which may or may not have support of the regents, it is important that Brookings becomes proactive and presents a unified voice regarding our future," he said in the e-mail.
The opinions above are from readers of rapidcityjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.
Rapidcityjournal.com provides this community forum for readers to exchange ideas and opinions on the news of the day. Passionate views, pointed criticism and critical thinking are welcome. Name-calling, crude language and personal abuse are not welcome. Moderators will monitor comments with an eye toward maintaining a high level of civility in this forum. Our comment policy explains the rules of the road for registered commenters.
If you don't see your comment, perhaps...
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy