Pat Pitney says State of the University is “strong”
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Pat Pitney, the President of the University of Alaska system, gave the State of the University address on March 11, in Anchorage, highlighting positive developments across the UA system.
From increases in enrollment to increases in research revenue, the UA system is seeing upward moment following some hard times. Boosts in funding and other areas are also benefiting the state, she said as the UA system pursues a higher status.
Enrollment figures have been on the decline for over a decade and have begun to bounce back. Looking at the University of Alaska Fairbank (UAF) alone, there has been a decrease in enrollment of 3,698 since 2011, but 2023 marked a change as enrollment increased. Specifically, first year enrollment has seen a large increase of 16%, a stark contrast to the 4% decrease seen nationally.
According to Pitney, the increase is good for both the UA system and the state as nine out of ten UA graduates remain in Alaska for the first year post graduation. Something that is vital to the state workforce as only one-in-four students who leave Alaska for college will return.
Reasons for the increase include the UA systems ability to keep tuition low and an expansion of financial aid. Those low costs help UA graduates in the long run too. “Both the average debt and the number of graduates who graduate with debt are well below regional and national averages,” said Pitney. She also said wages for those graduates are higher. That may be partly caused by increased wages meant to adjust for the cost of living in Alaska. However, not all graduate will receive such benefits from their employer.
Related, there was a 50% increase in the use of Alaska Performance Scholarship last year which is “the first increase in use since 2016,” said Pitney.
The increased funds mentioned by Pitney have been focused on research with the UA system receiving $235 million in research revenue last year. That’s “over $60 million above where [the UA system] was five years ago. Those funds are beneficial to promoting the UA system as a research leader in the arctic, but it also aides the pursuit of making UAF an R1 University. That will also require graduating more doctoral students.
While UAA is not pursuing an R1 status, they have also seen boosts to research funding. Recently, they were awarded a $46 million grant from the Dept. of Homeland Security. Those funds will go towards research focused on arctic security.
Touching on community partnerships, Pitney mentioned growth of dual enrollment and middle college programs. These programs that allow high school students to gain college credit while still in high school have grown 20%. There are now 3600 high school students enrolled in these programs across the state.
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