Normandale Community College sees spike in enrollment
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - Miah Moore came to Normandale Community College to get her degree in nursing, but discovered so much more at the school.
"I'm 26. I'm a single mom, and I kind of thought my time has passed and I just need to go in and get my degree and keep my head down," said Moore.
"(But) there are a lot of resources here and opportunities to just feel like a part of something bigger."
The same is true for Anderson Soth, who is planning on pursuing engineering at a university out of state after finishing up here. For him, the class sizes have been a big plus.
"Compared to a bigger university, those first two years, you are in classes with a hundred, two hundred people," said Soth.
These two students are a part of a banner year at Normandale, a community college that's seen a nearly 15% increase in fall enrollment from 2023 to 2024. Their total enrollment now tops 10,500 students.
At a time when enrollment is down at state schools like St. Cloud State and University of Minnesota-Duluth, Dean of Recruitment and Outreach Charles Frame says Normandale's success is in part because they have evolved to meet the needs of students.
They've renovated their college services building with state bonding money and increased resources for students, like free laptops. The rise in popularity of PSEO courses that allow high schoolers to earn dual credits has played a big part, too.
"We know that traditional perspective didn't include a lot of people, so making a college where we are really putting students at the center of these decisions was important to us," said Frame.
The price is also right. In 2022-2023, a year at Normandale was about $6,000 compared to more than $15,000 at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
"We are the largest transfer institution in the MN state system, so a lot of students start here and go wherever they want to," said Frame.
Online courses at Normandale are continuing to be popular, especially after the pandemic. About a third of their full-time students are online students.