Higher ed thrives in Great Falls – More traditional students join the mix

Classes start today at the University of Great Falls, and officials are excited about the largest entering class of freshman in the school’s history.

"We love our part-time and nontraditional students just as much, but younger students are our growth market and we’ve worked hard to recruit them," said President Eugene McAllister, in his second year at the helm of the small, Catholic liberal arts school.

By PETER JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Writer

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040907/localnews/1190742.html

With some students still enrolling, UGF had 148 new, full-time undergraduate students of the traditional college age of 18 to 22, he said. The previous high was 138 in 1993.

Under McAllister’s leadership the school has tried hard to attract more such freshmen by expanding the fledgling athletic program and starting an ambitious team-building and community service program for freshman dubbed the Corps of Discovery, after the venturesome Lewis and Clark expedition team.

McAllister didn’t have the overall enrollment figures yet, but said it appears the number of older, part-time students continues to fall. Some of those students are "very price conscious" and have gravitated toward less expensive programs offered by the nearby MSU-Great Falls College of Technology, he said.

UGF’s full-time equivalent students, which had been falling until last year, should remain the same, at about 750, or improve slightly, McAllister said, adding that the school will surpass its budget requirements.

Tech leveling off

Meanwhile, classes across 16th Avenue South at MSU-Tech got under way Aug. 30.

Although the large parking lot seems more jammed than ever, Dean Mary Sheehy Moe said the school’s overall enrollment numbers appear to have finally leveled off this year after 10 straight autumns of growth.

"I think our overall enrollment numbers will be nearly the same as last year, about 1,400 overall and 970 full-time equivalent students," she said.

"It’s good we’re not still expanding this year because we’re geared to handle this many students in terms of staffing and space," she said.

Moe was glad to see the percentage of those students who are full-time has increased from 47 to 53 percent in the last four years.

"It’s usually better when students can go full time, finish their programs and get on with things," she said.

Moe expects the demand for higher educational programs in Great Falls will continue to grow as health care, business and other human service careers require more education.

MSU-Tech is in the early stages of proposing a $19 million, two-story, 62,000 square-foot wing to the west of its 133,000 square-foot building. Those costs would include an elevator and upgrades to the aging mechanical system. But the school also needs more classrooms, space for new high-tech and crafts programs and a community-training center, Moe said.

The project is the top building priority for schools under Montana State University’s umbrella, she said, but would have to be approved by the Legislature, which faces many other requests for increased funding.

Northern flourishing

Enrollment also is up somewhat at MSU-Northern in Great Falls, whose 11 staff members recently shifted to the northwestern corner of the MSU Tech building, said Judy Oveson, associate director.

The number of students has increased from 116 to 128, she said.

MSU-Northern offers bachelor’s degrees in a few subjects such as business technology and elementary education to many students who spent their first two years satisfying basic education requirements at MSU-Tech in the same building. It also offers educators master’s degrees in learning development and counseling and an endorsement for principals.

‘Vibrant climate’

Both Moe and McAllister said growth in higher education enrollment and opportunities will benefit Great Falls’ economic and cultural future.

"More education for Great Falls is a wonderful thing," McAllister said.

"It creates a vibrant climate for area students and helps our economy grow by providing employers with skilled and educated workers," agreed Moe.

MSU-Tech is working with Centene Corp. to tailor a job-training program for the company that has announced plans for a 250-job medical claims center in Great Falls, she said.

And Moe and McAllister are completing a list of MSU-Tech classes that offer credits students can transfer automatically to UGF when they go on to get a four-year degree.

"The agreement will be helpful to students and encourage them to cross the street and take advantage of both schools," Moe said.

Students excited

Third-year UGF biology student Gina Brace, 20, will use both schools.

Next semester she plans to enter MSU-Tech’s nursing program, while still taking classes at UGF.

Brace also is excited about the increased number of younger students at UGF.

"The university attracted me because its smaller campus and classes let me get to know professors on a first-name basis," she said.

"But when I first started here it seemed like there were hardly any students here my age," Brace said. "Now we’re starting to get young folks from places like California and Arizona, which makes it fun."

Bill Johnson, 50, of Butte, is a non-traditional student who returned to school to study addiction counseling after a successful first career.

"It’s a fantastic place, with the professors bending over backwards to help," he said, noting he had to work extra hard at first to pick up math and science skills he had left behind years ago.

Johnson is fine with UGF’s picking up more young students.

"The more the better," he said. "Everybody seems to group together and get along."

McAllister said UGF has recruited students from places like Arizona, Washington State, Chicago and Southern California by offering good programs with smaller classes and touting nearby access to the Missouri River and Glacier Park.

UGF enhancements

Plans calling for spiffing up UGF’s small, grassed campus with a new plaza, fountain and entrance, he said.

Adding new athletic programs has helped boost enrollment, too, he said, with intercollegiate wrestling alone bringing in 35 students this year. Most students, including athletes, are on at least partial scholarships, he said.

Emilie Hall, UGF’s residential dormitory, was reopened a few years ago. Last year just 45 of its 100 beds were filled, but the dorm is at capacity this year.

Villa Apartments, the nearby housing for upper classmen and married students, also is full.

"With the increase in younger residential students, we have an extraordinarily vibrant student life," McAllister said.

For instance, the school’s freshman orientation last weekend included Frisbee golf, barbecues and canoe trips for 100.

McAllister told faculty members last week he hopes they can make UGF "one of the most interesting universities in America within four years" by following through on innovative and even courageous goals.

Appealing curriculum

This year’s freshman will start out-of-classroom Corps of Discovery program, which is part physical challenge, part spiritual retreat and part focusing on Native American culture and part community service and mentoring.

UGF also is broadening its business curriculum to stress the arts of communication, creative thinking, leadership and team building.

McAllister said a top executive with a Fortune 500 company is intrigued with UGF’s idea of developing better individuals, "whether in the corporate board room or the family living room."

The ideas of personal development and community service date back to the Sisters of Providence, the university’s founders, but is being updated for today’s world, McAllister said.

MSU-Tech prospers

Meanwhile, MSU-Tech’s seven two-year health related specialties continue to thrive, Moe said.

"They are high quality, with graduates scoring high on licensing tests, and having a high placement rate for jobs starting at $25,000 a year and up," Moe said.

About one-third of the school’s students are "transfer students" who plan to fulfill their first two years of general education requirements at the low-key campus before transferring to a larger campus to earn bachelor’s degrees, Moe said.

MSU-Tech has shored up its faculty with several full-time teachers to ensure quality and continuity, she said.

The school is starting an "Artisan Launch" program on weekends that will help part-time artists from around the state learn both art and business principles to sustain full-time careers.

MSU-Tech also is expanding a program called "Jump Start" that allows high school students to take a few college classes and earn both high school and college credit. In past years, it was confined to Great Falls-area students taking auto-body repair classes; this year, students from around the state can take such online classes as sociology and psychology.

Big ambitions

John Mack, 22, a California-native who came to Great Falls while serving in the Air Force stayed because he likes the area’s less dense population and its schools.

He hopes to complete MSU-Tech degrees in business management entrepreneurship and accounting and start a late night coffee house and cyber café "so young people can get out of the bars and sit on couches drinking coffee with their friends."

He’s enjoyed the college’s instructors.

"They are knowledgeable and friendly," he said. "None are pompous."

Dale Sawyer, 48, moved furniture for 25 years before hurting his back, and now has an occupational therapy grant so he can retrain.

"I’m taking business management classes so I can be the boss this time," he quipped.

Computers weren’t widely in use when he last attended school, so Sawyer has taken advantage of free tutoring at the school’s Learning Center and has sought help from teachers and younger classmates.

"My classes are more crowded this year, which means teachers can’t spend as much individual time with us," he said. "But everybody has the right to learn and they cut off classes when the size gets unmanageable."