University system reports enrollment gains, presses legislators for targeted funding for workforce, research and capital

Kevin Black, a member of the State Board of Higher Education, and Chancellor Mark Hager presented systemwide results and priorities to the House Appropriations Committee and said the system is focused on workforce, research and affordability.

Board member Kevin Black said the system’s strategic plan, Envision 2035, centers on workforce needs in energy, agriculture and health care, growing research capacity, and public‑private partnerships. “We need to find ways in higher education to make AI practical, understandable and applicable,” Black said, arguing the state should prepare graduates to use and support advanced technologies.

Chancellor Hager reported the system is seeing growth: enrollment and FTEs are at the highest levels in several years, graduation rates improved and FAFSA completion rose after state coordination with K–12 and campuses. Hager highlighted the system’s reputation for campus civility during national campus tensions: “In North Dakota, our campus is known for civility and kindness,” he told the committee.

Leaders described a lengthy list of budget requests and changes under consideration in Senate Bill 2,003. The board emphasized the importance of challenge grants (the Senate version included $25 million, compared with higher proposals in the governor’s plan), and asked for support of targeted workforce innovation grants, high‑performance computing, and capital projects. Key details presented by university finance staff and the system office included:

- Funding formula and credit weights: the system’s funding formula translates completed credit hours into weighted credits; preliminary calculations for the 2025–27 base showed institution‑level adjustments tied to weighted credits and a minimum‑payable floor (a 96% floor to prevent abrupt drops). The system asked the committee to consider rate equalizations and targeted adjustments for specific program weightings.

- Specific adjustments included a $1.5 million appropriation to address a Dickinson State change in the credit completion factor, $1.2 million for Lake Region State College after moving two programs into the CTE cluster, and $13.6 million for NDSU’s professional pharmacy weighting change (Senate language changed the program weighting). Committee staff said they will show detailed line‑by‑line calculations in division work.

- Program and operating requests: the system asked for funding for nursing simulation equipment and faculty, continued funding for the Dakota Digital Academy and the statewide longitudinal data system, workforce education innovation grants for smaller institutions, and two institutions’ requests tied to national security and research infrastructure (UND and NDSU). The Senate included funding increases for a mix of those items.

- Shared services and enterprise systems: Core Technology Services (CTS) urged a cloud‑readiness investment and presented a multi‑year enterprise resource planning (ERP) modernization plan; the system office requested $10 million for cloud‑readiness work to prepare PeopleSoft‑based systems for a cloud transition.

Board members and campus leaders highlighted dual credit and workforce alignment as priorities: several campus speakers and trustees urged flexibility to expand dual‑credit offerings, better k‑12/higher‑ed alignment and stronger employer partnerships so more students can earn stackable credentials and enter high‑demand jobs quickly. Student Association President Sammy Weber told the committee affordability, on‑campus housing quality and access to mental‑health services remain top student concerns.

Finance staff provided the committee with a detailed breakdown of Senate Bill 2,003’s changes; the Senate version funds a selection of the board’s requests including challenge grants at $25 million, high‑performance computing at $2 million, $12 million for UND’s national security initiative and $12 million for NDSU’s research initiative. No final appropriation was made in the committee; divisions will review specific line items and the committee requested supplemental spreadsheets showing how the funding‑formula calculations produced institution allocations.

Committee discussion focused on duplication of programs across campuses, maintaining affordability, how to expand dual‑credit without reducing program quality, and the need to measure return on investment for public‑private partnerships and challenge grants. Presenters committed to providing more detailed worksheets and program‑level data in the division hearings that follow.