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Carson College highlights entrepreneurship, active learning; MBA enrollment decline remains a budget pressure
Summary
Carson College of Business leaders told regents they have expanded entrepreneurship and experiential learning programs while working to reverse a steep decline in online MBA enrollment that has pressured the college’s finances.
Debbie Campo, dean of the Carson College of Business, told the Academic and Student Affairs Committee on March 6 that the college is advancing experiential programs while confronting an enrollment decline in its online MBA that has strained budgets.
Campo described the Center for Entrepreneurship’s annual business plan competition, which runs from January through April and includes student, open and high school leagues; she said the competition has engaged more than 1,200 students over 10 years and helped launch roughly 35 ventures. The college also runs community consulting programs that place capstone students with regional small businesses; the Vancouver program reported roughly 200,000 consulting hours to 460 small businesses and estimated at least $17 million in revenue generated for clients since 2014.
On undergraduate education, Campo said the college’s Next Carson Coug redesign (launched 2019) emphasizes active learning and reduced section sizes (caps of roughly 70) to increase engagement; regents and students in the room praised the model for improving student outcomes, undergraduate research participation and career readiness. Campo said the model has required subsidy support and that the reduced MBA revenue has created sustainability challenges.
Campo described the college’s decision to close its face‑to‑face MBA in 2017 and expand online offerings; online MBA enrollment initially grew but has fallen to about half of its earlier level, leaving enrollment roughly one‑third of its peak four years ago. She said college leaders believe they have identified root causes and expect marketing and negotiated solutions could begin improving enrollment by spring 2026, but recovery to prior scale will take several years.
Regents asked about partnership opportunities with regional employers, cross‑disciplinary offerings, and extension. Campo said the college is exploring corporate partnerships, stackable credentials and expanded outreach to extension and other campus units, and is developing non‑degree professional education options as a new revenue and engagement pathway.
