Friday Focus: Being part of the solution

July 26, 2024

— By Dan White, chancellor

In my meetings with leaders across campus, I often start the conversation with the questions: what’s our goal and what’s the problem we are trying to solve? I do this because it is important to identify our goal and the context of what follows. At times, it can be easy to focus on the nuts and bolts of a solution. But without first identifying the problem we are facing, we risk charting a path in the wrong direction, missing critical pieces of the puzzle, or investing resources before identifying our priorities. It also prevents us from missing externalities that could render a great idea D.O.A.

This week, the UA Board of Regents met for most of a day to discuss student enrollment and retention. I appreciate the Board’s leadership on this topic, and was proud to share UAF initiatives to improve our student recruitment and retention. UAA Chancellor Parnell and UAS Chancellor Palmer also shared the great things happening at their campuses to ensure that the University of Alaska System of Higher Education continues to provide a high quality education to students. We are working together, and there is clearly no lack of talented faculty and staff across the system charting the path. That being said, we still spent six hours discussing enrollment and retention, because in front of us is a big change, a “problem we are trying to solve.” 

Over the next few years, colleges and universities around the country are going to experience a major drop in enrollment. At its core, this is a result of a decrease in the population of college-age students in the United States. In Alaska, the decrease in this demographic is even more pronounced. On top of that and despite the data showing its benefit, confidence in the value of a college degree has dropped nationwide. The supply/demand curve is not in our favor and it is getting worse. Last year, a college in the U.S. went bankrupt at the rate of once a week. While large public universities (research universities in particular) are projected to fare better through these hard times, UAF will not be immune to the challenges facing higher education generally. This is the problem we are trying to solve. 

After we identify the problem, the next step is mapping out solutions. Our goal is to have a thriving, sustainable university that continues to serve Alaska for decades to come. To achieve this goal, we need to take action now. The Board is working on a plan for the UA System that will provide clear instructions for a collective path forward. At UAF, our Strategic Enrollment Planning team and employees around campus are stepping up to ensure we can continue to recruit and retain students in the face of these upcoming changes. With a challenge this broad, we need everyone to be part of the solution.  

One pathway we are exploring is increasing the quality and quantity of student housing available on campus. In order to address the impending downtick of college-age students in Alaska, we need to increase our efforts to recruit out-of-state students. We were informed by the BOR’s enrollment consultant this week that we are very undercapitalized in this area. That is, there is out-of-state market share available for UAF. If we recruit students to come here, we need to have somewhere for them to live. Residence halls are one way to address the problem we are trying to solve. As identified by the BOR, another route is a restructure of our rural campus model to meet the needs of modern students, education delivery options, and technological developments. With more and more online options for students, our rural campuses have a critical role to play in providing resources, hands-on learning, and accessible education to students in rural Alaska. That said, our current model needs updating in order to address the problem we are trying to solve. 

I encourage everyone, faculty and staff, to start identifying the problem you are trying to solve and how it fits in the broader context. Recruitment and retention are the big umbrellas, but within that, all of us will have a slightly different perspective on the problem and different expertise to contribute to the solution. Together, I am confident we have the craft and the crew to navigate the waters ahead.

Thanks for choosing UAF.

Friday Focus is written by a different member of UAF’s leadership team every week.