Frequently Asked Questions
College Continuation | Tuition & Fees | Two-year Education |
Retention | Enrollment | Transferability | Financial Aid |
Educational Attainment | Economic Development
College Continuation
How many Montana high school graduates attend college?
Since 1998, approximately 11,000 students graduate from public and private high school across Montana each year. On average, 55% of the graduates attend college in the fall semester immediately following high school graduation. Montana’s college continuation rate is comparable to the national average and is consistently above states in the western region.
Annually, 35% of a high school graduating class will attend a Montana University System institution upon graduation. Another 4% to 5% choose to enroll in either Tribal or private colleges in Montana. The remaining 15% to 16% pursue their higher education at institutions residing out-of-state.
Tuition & Fees
Why has tuition increased so much in the past fifteen years?
Tuition has increased considerably over the past fifteen years because educational costs have continued to grow (from inflation alone) and state appropriations have remained relatively flat. In fact, state funding per resident student FTE has actually declined since 1992.
For resident students, the price of an education is generally governed by a simple relationship:
(Cost of a Quality Education) − (State Support) = (Tuition & Fees for Student)
How does tuition in Montana compare to surrounding states?
The average tuition for resident students at 4-year institutions in Montana is slightly higher than that of states in the western region. A particular problem for Montana has been increasingly high postsecondary education costs relative to income levels. In general, Montanans must pay a higher share of their incomes for tuition and fees than residents of the other western states.
Two-year Education
How many students attend 2-year versus 4-year colleges in Montana?
In Fall 2006, nearly 42,000 students enrolled in the Montana University System, with 79% of the students enrolled at 4-year institutions, 14% at colleges of technology, and 7% at one of the community colleges.
How does the enrollment distribution in Montana compare to other states?
In general, Montana enrolls a smaller percentage of students in 2-year colleges than most western states. In particular, Montana ranks very low in the enrollment of non-traditional students age 25 to 45.
Retention
What are retention rates and how are they measured?
In higher education, retention is measured by tracking cohorts of first-time students and determining what percent return with each advancing semester. One federal measure requires institutions to report the percent of students that return to the same institution after one year (i.e. % of freshmen that return for sophomore year at the institution they originally entered). (Retention Rates)
The limitations of this measure are that students who transfer to another institution are not counted and do not contribute to the percent of freshmen returning for a second year. When Montana students who transfer within the MUS are counted, system-wide retention increases substantially.
Enrollment
What is the difference between Headcount enrollment and FTE?
Enrollment is generally measured in two ways: 1) an unduplicated headcount of students enrolled in credit courses at each institution; or 2) a calculation of full-time equivalent enrollment (FTE). Headcount records the enrollment of each student regardless of the number of credits that he/she is enrolled in, while FTE is computed based on the number of student credit hours. One student FTE is equal to 15 credit hours (whether taken by one student or by the combination of several students) at the undergraduate level and 12 credit hours at the graduate level.
Has the number of students enrolling in the MUS been increasing?
Over the past ten years, enrollment has increased by approximately 2,500 FTE or 7.3%. The colleges of technology have witnessed the largest percentage growth, increasing by 38% or nearly 1,100 FTE. Headcount enrollment has grown from 38,500 in Fall 2001 to nearly 42,000 in Fall 2006, representing an increase of 8.3%.
Transferability
How many students transfer each semester?
Out of the 39,000 students enrolled in the MUS (not including community colleges) in Fall 2006, approximately 2,800 either transferred from another MUS institution, a Tribal or private college in Montana, or from an out-of-state college. While enrollment has been increasing, the number of “transfer students” has been declining since Fall 2002. Approximately 40% of bachelor’s degree recipients in the MUS have attended more than one institution.
Does it take transfer students longer to graduate?
On average, transfer students receiving bachelor’s degrees in the MUS will have to earn 9 credits more than non-transfer students in order to obtain a degree.
Financial Aid
How many students receive some sort of financial aid?
Approximately 80% of first-time, full-time freshmen receive some sort of financial assistance, in the form of grants, scholarships, work study, or student loans. More than half of these entering freshmen take out student loans in order to cover their expenses, and fewer than one-quarter will receive aid in the form of grants and scholarships from the state of Montana.
The problem in Montana resides with the availability of state funded need-based financial aid. In comparison to its peers, Montana provides less than $100 per student FTE in need-based aid, where the average in the western states is twice that amount.
Educational Attainment
How does a college education help Montanans?
Simply put, a college education is the number one avenue to a higher paying career, and it’s no exception in Montana. In 2004, workers holding a bachelor’s degree in the state of Montana earned an average total personal income of $35,622—almost $13,000 less than the national average—but $14,500 higher than the average total personal income of Montana workers with only a high school diploma (source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), March 2004).
However, the benefits of a college education go well beyond higher salaries. College educated individuals are more likely to experience a greater degree of personal and professional mobility, improved working conditions, as well as increased health and a greater life expectancy. The state as a whole also reaps the benefits of a well educated populace by growing its tax revenues at the same time employing a highly productive workforce. Socially, a well educated population will experience a decrease in crime rates coupled with an increase in civic engagement and community service.
Economic Development
How does the university system help fuel the economy in Montana?
The Montana University System plays a vital role in the development and maintenance of the economy in our state.
Faculty, staff, and students of the university system account for more than $500 million in local expenditures in Montana’s economy each year. (www.montanainvests.org)
A large portion of the state’s expenditures for research and development derive from the university system and its partnerships with local businesses. Research within the university system is a large industry, putting approximately $175 million of “outside” money directly into the Montana economy.
Research and development expenditures at Montana’s research universities (MSU-Bozeman, UM-Missoula, & MT Tech) have more than doubled since 1998 and are projected to exceed $240 million in next five years.
