Montana Technological University cut programs and faculty in recent years in response to enrollment declines.
Still, the university has grappled with a deficit of about $600,000 that the Butte-based school attributes to a tuition shortfall.
Montana Tech, like many colleges and universities nationwide, has been hit by slumping enrollment tied in part to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like many other schools, Montana Tech hoped for a solid rebound in enrollment in the fall of 2021.
Chancellor Les Cook said he and other school administrators were cautiously optimistic about enrollment experiencing a solid bump up.
Yet fall enrollment in 2021 totaled 2,339, compared to 2,583 in the fall of 2018.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported in November that a review of national trends found nettlesome numbers for higher education: “Roughly two months into the second fall semester of the pandemic, postsecondary enrollment is now running 2.6 percent below last year’s level, for a total 5.8 percent drop since 2019.”
Cook said COVID-19 hasn’t been the only dynamic affecting enrollment trends.
People are having fewer children or no other children at all. Some parents and young people question the value of a college education, he said. High school students who might have been college-bound in decades past decide they want to go directly into the job market.
“People want to make money,” Cook said.
He referenced a book, “The Agile College,” that describes demographic challenges facing schools and offers thoughts on strategic responses. A description of the book notes that “colleges are already grappling with the consequences of declining family size due to low birth rates brought on by the Great Recession.”
Cook said there is a lot of conversation about the relative value of a college education.
Montana Tech students often leave the university with knowledge and skills sought by high-paying employers.
“Our students are in high demand,” Cook said.
Meanwhile, Montana Tech said Thursday that the shortfall will be addressed with a $128,000 enrollment contingency fund and $480,000 in salary and benefit savings “already accumulated in anticipation of the need to balance our budget.”
Salary and benefit savings accumulated over the course of the year due to open/vacant positions, the university said.
Cook said Montana Tech is in the early stages of planning for fiscal 2023.
“There are challenges ahead,” he said.
Still, based on applications for the fall semester, Cook said he feels optimistic.
Montana Tech has been an affiliate of the University of Montana since 1994. During leadership changes at both the University of Montana and Montana Tech, the reporting lines were adjusted temporarily and the chancellor at Montana Tech reported director to the Commissioner of Higher Education.
Last summer, the reporting lines returned to the president of the University of Montana, who is Seth Bodnar.
