Bismarck State requests startup funds, housing authorization and $43M health sciences expansion as enrollment surges

Brent Sanford, interim president of Bismarck State College, told the committee the college has posted consecutive enrollment growth and has reached or exceeded internal five‑year goals earlier than planned. Sanford and Rebecca Collins, executive vice president for Bismarck State College, outlined a set of requests the college said are needed to sustain growth and meet statewide workforce demand.

Why it matters: Bismarck State said rapid growth has produced capacity limits in housing, health sciences training space and high‑cost technical programs; leaders asked the committee to consider formula changes affecting energy programs and to authorize targeted capital projects.

Sanford described campus growth and a mismatch between credit production and state funding per student. “We will have attained our highest enrollment in BSC history,” Sanford said, and the college reported five consecutive semesters of growth and projections that exceed past targets.

Rebecca Collins told the committee that including all energy programs in the proposed funding formula increase would cost the state “about 4,500,000 a year,” or “a little over 9,000,000 for the biennium.” Sanford asked the committee to consider that adjustment, noting the proposal was mentioned in Senate Bill 2034 and could apply to additional energy disciplines beyond wind.

On program start‑up funding, Bismarck State requested $5,000,000 to purchase high‑tech equipment, support curriculum development, hire instructional staff and fund recruitment and student supports for new high‑cost programs. The college said it has used prior start‑up funding to create 35 certificates, associates and bachelor’s degrees since the last Legislative Assembly and that new programs — especially in healthcare, energy and construction — require seed money before tuition‑based funding arrives.

Sanford and Collins also described a “critical student housing shortage” at Bismarck State. The college reported 524 applications for 470 on‑campus beds this fall and proposed a $1,400,000 remodel of an existing leased office building to create roughly 62 beds targeted at medical students. Sanford asked the committee to authorize that project and said the college would use such space to keep more students living on or near campus and reduce off‑campus cost burdens.

Finally, college leaders presented a 62,000‑square‑foot Health Sciences expansion priced at $43,000,000. The project would add teaching labs and clinical spaces to expand LPN and RN seats, add programs such as respiratory therapy and diagnostic medical sonography, and consolidate health programs under one roof. The college said healthcare program demand is already high — the transcript records applications up 31% for practical nursing this fall — and that the expansion would include deferred‑maintenance work now needed on the existing facility.

Ending: Sanford closed by asking legislators to consider the formula changes, program start‑up funding and capital authorization so the college can continue producing graduates that regional employers request. Rebecca Collins and Sanford said they would provide further cost detail if requested by the committee.