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BSC reports 10-year enrollment high for fall; largest freshman class in school history

Published: Sep 20 2023
BSC reports 10-year enrollment high for fall; largest freshman class in school history - Photo
Only five years after its designation as North Dakota Polytechnic Institution, Bismarck State College (BSC) has recorded its highest enrollment in 10 years with 4,065 students enrolled for the Fall 2023 semester – a nearly 8% increase over Fall 2022.
 
The third largest institution in the North Dakota University System (NDUS), BSC credit hours went up more than 5 percent, with students enrolled in nearly 39,000 credits. The most significant increase was in freshman enrollment, up more than 9% over last year. Of the 11 NDUS institutions, BSC has the largest freshman class – 2,433 students enrolled in their first year of college – which is also a historic high for BSC.
 
“A 9% increase in freshman enrollment is both an exciting and positive sign for future growth at Bismarck State College,” says BSC President Doug Jensen.
 
To facilitate program growth and build industry workforce, BSC broke ground last fall on the region’s only state-of-the-art polytechnic education center next to the BSC National Energy Center of Excellence on campus. The new facility, specifically designed to facilitate hands-on learning and industry collaboration, is slated to be completed in November 2024.
 
“This kind of growth and expansion is not only great for BSC but also for our communities and our state,” says Jensen. “More students are seeing the value of our polytechnic education model, high-demand career pathways, hands-on learning and affordable tuition.”
 
Looking ahead, BSC anticipates enrollment will keep increasing as the polytechnic institution continues to add new academic programs in high-demand fields such as agriculture, cybersecurity, energy, health sciences, manufacturing and automation, and multiple others. 
 
“The more students we enroll in programs, the more we graduate and the more we are able to meet workforce needs. It’s a win for our students, and it’s also a win for economic, community and workforce development,” Jensen says.
 
This fall, BSC has students from every U.S. state and 11 countries enrolled in more than 100 career pathways.