Montana State University Billings welcomed its largest freshmen class in three years this fall, with increases in military-affiliated, Hispanic, and Native American student enrollment. Retention rates for first-time freshmen and transfer students exceeded targets set by the newly formed Retention and Graduation Council and a record-high number of students are also taking online or HyFlex classes, reaffirming that MSUB is offering the right learning modalities to meet the needs of their students.
Compared to fall 2021, Hispanic student enrollment increased 9 percent and Native American student enrollment increased 1.3 percent. Military-affiliated student enrollment jumped by almost 10 percent and students taking an online or HyFlex class (option to take a class both in-person or online) increased by 2.2 percent, which is the highest level of participation in these course modalities in the history of MSUB.
At its official 15th class day count, 4,057 students were enrolled, with 2,322 students at university campus and 1,735 enrolled at City College campus. High school student enrollment in University Connections courses increased by 21 percent. These are college courses taught by MSUB professors at the university that high school students enroll in for dual credit. “We have intentionally increased our recruitment efforts to better serve students from a wider range of backgrounds,” said MSUB Chancellor Stefani Hicswa. “MSUB offers a robust and diverse range of in-demand programs, and it is apparent that our students recognize the industry demand to fill workforce needs in many of these areas.”
Last year, MSUB developed a comprehensive retention and graduation plan, which not only developed intentional strategies for retaining students and shortening the time to degree completion, but also established institutional retention and graduation rate targets for the next five years. Early results of this initiative showed a 3.6 percent increase in the fall 2021 to fall 2022 retention rate for first-time freshmen and transfer students.
This summer, MSUB launched EAB Navigate, which is an online student success platform that streamlines communication between students, faculty, staff, and advisors. “By streamlining advising appointments and student and university communication, EAB Navigate allows us to effectively deploy our student success strategies to provide the appropriate supports and interventions for our students. This platform has already proven to be successful in retaining students,” said MSUB Provost Sep Eskandari. “MSUB has robust student support services and programs in place to help every single student succeed in college.”
This fall, MSU Billings launched the Montana 10 program with 108 student scholars. Montana 10 is a new scholarship program from the Montana University System that offers academic, social, and financial support designed to help students succeed in college. Montana 10 scholars have a community of support staff who knows them individually and supports them along their college journey, ensuring they receive tailored support to achieve their educational and career goals. There are currently 77 Montana 10 scholars enrolled at the university campus and 31 students enrolled at the City College campus. Programs such as TRIO Student Support Services also provides academic, financial, and social support to many MSUB students. “MSU Billings serves an economically diverse student body, including 45 percent of our new first-time freshmen class being first-generation college students,” said MSUB Vice Chancellor for Student Access and Success Kim Hayworth. Applications are open for the fall 2023 Montana 10 cohort. The program is open to any first-time freshmen from Montana eligible for the Federal Pell Grant and who plan to attend college full-time.
First-time freshmen enrollment increased four percent and nontraditional freshmen student enrollment increased 14 percent. Nontraditional students are classified as having been out of high school three or more years. This past spring and summer, MSUB held monthly college information events catering to first-time adult learners. These events highlighted flexible program options such as online or HyFlex and provided information on applying to and paying for college.
Additional highlights from MSUB’s fall 2022 enrollment data include:
- Health and Human Performance 3+2 program (includes a combined bachelor’s and master’s program) enrollment increased 94 percent.
- Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Nursing program enrollment increased 37 percent.
- Master of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling program enrollment increased 25 percent.
- Master of School Counseling program enrollment increased 22 percent.
- Bachelor of Business Administration - Finance Option enrollment increased 39.5 percent.
- Computer technology associate programs saw an enrollment increase of 23 percent.
- Fire science associate program enrollment increased 50 percent.
- The Associate in Nursing enrollment increased by 14 percent.
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