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President's Desk

President’s Column: Exciting Results in Enrollment, Rankings, and AI

Oct 1, 2024

VCSU president Alan LaFave talks with a group of students on campus

Greetings from Valley City State University! Last week was very exciting for our university. Continued record enrollments, national rankings, and the hosting of the first ever North Dakota AI Conference were driving forces for an abundance of positive news.

Enrollment: Annual census date enrollment data for the North Dakota University System was released on September 23, and we were extremely pleased to have eclipsed 1800 for the first time in school history! With 1806 students enrolled for the 2024 fall semester, we continue to be recognized as a wise academic investment by students and their families. This number includes 1651 undergraduate students and 155 graduate students. Here are some other specifics regarding this year’s enrollment data:

  • FTE (full-time equivalents) also reached a new record of 1184.
  • VCSU has grown more than 31 percent over the past ten years and has set enrollment records each semester for the past three semesters.
  • 314 new undergraduate students are enrolled, including freshman and transfer students.
  • The graduate program grew by 23 percent over last fall.
  • Transfer student numbers increased by 21 percent.
  • Retention rates for first-time, full-time students increased by 3%.
  • Full-time students increased by 5%.

This data helps illustrate that our trusted degrees and generous scholarship programs combine to provide our students with quality education and experiences at an affordable price. We are extremely grateful to our donors and all those who support our mission in the important role of providing an attainable and affordable education for our students.

Rankings: VCSU has enjoyed a long and successful history of being recognized by U.S. News and World Report. In fact, we’ve been recognized as one of the top Best Colleges for 27 consecutive years. The 2025 U.S. News Best College Report, released last week, ranks colleges annually in areas such as retention, graduation rates, outcomes, peer reviews, measures of student excellence, and the educational expenditure per student.

Along with being the top public regional college in North Dakota, U.S. News ranked us as the No. 2 public regional college in the 12 state Midwest region including, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. Other notable rankings include:

Our commitment to quality, both in and outside the classroom, contribute to these external validations of the VCSU experience. These rankings confirm what we see every day – students who choose to call VCSU home have a great experience and leave with a valuable degree and credentials at an affordable price.

AI leadership: Finally, VCSU was honored to serve as the site of the first ever North Dakota Conference on AI on September 26 in the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts. The conference, entitled “Being Human and Working in the Age of AI” brought researchers, industry practitioners, educators, and thought leaders together to hear from national and regional experts in the field. This event was a collaborative effort and partnership involving Valley City State University, University of Mary, Dakota Digital Academy, North Dakota University System, North Dakota Information Technology, and Department of Public Instruction.

More than 200 educators, industry professionals, students, faculty, and staff gathered to hear keynote presentations from the Honorable James E. Baker – director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law and professor at the Syracuse College of Law and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs – and Dr. Eman El-Sheikh, associate vice president and professor for the Center of Cybersecurity at the University of West Florida. Her presentation, “Building an AI enabled Future Workforce” focused on workforce transformation and the preparation of skilled professionals.

Several breakout sessions focused on the topics of health science and technology, business, government, and education. Also included was a fireside chat moderated by Todd Pringle, DDA director featuring NDUS Chancellor Mark Hagerott and Monsignor James Patrick Shea, University of Mary President.

We are grateful for the opportunity to host a conference such as this and look forward to the Center for the Arts venue serving as the site for many more educational and community events.

Our successful growth and recognition have been a team effort. All three of these topics and success stories are the result of an entire team of faculty, staff, coaches, and administrators working to make VCSU the best it can possibly be.

Go Vikings!