Center for Distance Education reports sharp enrollment growth and asks for staff, spending authority and system upgrades

Dr. Alyssa Martin, state director of the North Dakota Center For Distance Education, told the House Appropriations and Education and Environment Division that the center is experiencing rapid growth and requested funding and staffing to support that expansion.

Martin said the Center for Distance Education (CDE), which traces its roots to 1935, served more than 27,000 course enrollments in the current biennium and reported roughly 15,000 enrollments in the current fiscal year at the time of testimony. She said the agency had earned about $4.9 million in tuition revenue to date and that the center is tuition‑contingent: increased enrollments have been funded through tuition rather than additional general fund appropriations.

To manage growth and maintain quality, Martin presented four decision packages and related requests: increased special spending authority (to allow the center to spend higher tuition revenue…