Job growth changing enrollment at NIC

BOISE – Regional job growth has caused an enrollment boom in North Idaho College distance education and work force training programs and a drop in regular course enrollment, NIC President Michael Burke told the House Education Committee.

“Record low unemployment – that is what has happened to our enrollment,” Burke said Monday.

While regular enrollment during the 2004-05 academic year was 4,369 – down about 150 students from 2004-05 – work force training enrollment increased by almost 3,500 for a total of 12,795 students, he said.

Participation in the distance learning program, which offers online courses, grew to 5,616, or eight times greater than in the 1998-99 academic year.

“That’s not a typo,” Burke said.

The dramatic increase in work force training and distance education is a reflection of the 6.8 percent increase in jobs Kootenai County saw last year, he said.

“We find our enrollment to be counter-cyclical,” Burke said. “When our students have an opportunity to choose between a job and going to college, they often are going to delay going to college.”

As the region’s economy grows, the Coeur d’Alene-based college will continue to reach out to the five counties it serves by making its services easier to access, Burke said.

“We’re trying to bring higher education out to these rural communities so that fewer and fewer students have to commute these inordinate distances in the region,” he said.

The outreach center that opened in Sandpoint in 2000 is at capacity. A similar center just opened in Kellogg.

“I think we’re going to be the cornerstone to help them bring industry and bring economic development to that community,” Burke said.

The college also is in talks with Boundary County commissioners and the Kootenai Tribe about opening an outreach center in Bonners Ferry this year, Burke said.

Education Q-and-A

Lawmakers took the opportunity to ask Burke several questions about NIC and education in general.

When asked about the state’s proposal to add more math and science courses to Idaho’s high school graduation requirements, he said math and science are subjects vitally important to the success of students.

“The issue is those kinds of sabbaticals from mathematics are not doing the freshmen a whole lot of good,” Burke said.

Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, asked how the college retains quality faculty members in such a competitive field.

Though recruitment can be challenging, Burke said, “I don’t lose a lot of faculty.”

“The trick is recruitment,” he said. “You’ve got to have a salary out there so that it makes the jobs attractive enough for the person in the first place.”

In response to a question from Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, about the college’s partnerships, Burke discussed Kootenai County Medical Center’s technological contributions to the college’s new Meyer Health and Sciences Building. He said the inside of the building mirrors that of the medical center.

“It’s an extraordinary gift,” said Burke, emphasizing that students are in no way obligated to work at the center upon completing their degrees.

Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene, said all of North Idaho as well as other parts of the state benefit from the college. “It is more than just Kootenai County,” Chadderdon said, responding to comments that the county had an advantage because it’s home to the college.

The University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College continue to offer courses on the North Idaho College campus, Burke said, and students are able to take courses from all schools while paying full-time tuition at only one of the schools.

“We’ve never had the kind of resources we would like so we’ve had to cooperate,” Burke said. “It’s part of … the kind of synergy that goes on.”