Dakota College Announces Fall Enrollment

Dakota College at Bottineau closes the fall 2020 enrollment with an increase. The North Dakota University System calculates official fall enrollment for all 11 colleges and universities on the 20th instructional day of the semester. That day was yesterday, September 21, 2020. As expected, due to COVID-19, Dakota College is experiencing some changes in the enrollment pattern for the 2020-2021 academic year.

First the good news (and somewhat unexpected) – this is the fifth year Dakota College has seen an annual increase in student headcount across the college. The Dakota College student headcount for this fall is 1060, which is not only a record headcount, but also an increase of 54 students when compared to last fall. Five years ago (2015), Dakota College’s headcount was 692, so this equates to an increase of 368 students over this period-of-time. The primary factors that contributed to growth are increases in both online and dual-credit enrollment.

However, while overall student numbers are up, full-time student enrollment is down a bit. Full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment for this fall is 552 students, which compares to 595 in fall 2019. FTE is calculated by taking the total number of credits for which students are registered and dividing by 15 credits, which is the number the North Dakota University System uses for determining a full-time student. However, even with a reduction in FTE students, this number is still the 3rd highest in the college’s history.

Overall, the Dakota College enrollment is generally tracking with budgeted projections, so this is good news during these challenging times. This helps ensure that our funding will remain stable during the coming year.