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MSU-Billings Receives Funding To Increase Retention Rates

MSU-Billings Chancellor Mark Nook says the money will be invested in recruitment and retention of students.
Jackie Yamanaka
MSU-Billings Chancellor Mark Nook says the money will be invested in recruitment and retention of students.

Montana State University Billings is receiving a one-time injection of $760,000. The money is the result of meeting goals set under the Montana University System’s Performance Funding initiative.

Performance Funding is based on a combination of several factors, most notably keeping students from dropping out and getting students graduating with a certificate or degree.

Chancellor Mark Nook says at first the campus thought it fell short, but was told late last year it would receive Performance Funding of $760,000. But he told faculty and staff this doesn’t mean there will be a spending spree. Rather he says the money will be invested in recruitment and retention of students.

"Right now we’ve got to stay focused on how do we recruit the students for the fall. How do we work on getting our retention rates up. What can we do to improve the number of students who graduate from this institution and go on to lead professional lives and lives that are really leaders in our community."

The money must be spent by the end of the current fiscal year. The budget committees on campus are to come up with a recommendation by the end of April.

Nook says among the ideas proposed so far include spending most of it for student scholarships and for a system to detect when a student might be struggling and provide supplemental instruction or tutoring.

He says there’s also an effort to expand offerings to meet community needs.

Nook says he is working to expand the two-year nursing program to a Bachelor’s degree. He says discussions are in the works to potentially add other programs and he’s calling for public input.

"So it’s got to be a community effort. There isn’t one person who can improve our enrollment or improve our budget. It’s going to mean all of us working together and identifying new programs, identifying new ways we can retain students and new ways to recruit new students."

Nook says while there have been discussions about potential new programs, he’s not ready to make any of them public just yet.

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