North Dakota higher education officials are turning to an overlooked pool of potential workers as the state confronts persistent job openings and a declining share of traditional college-age students.
The North Dakota University System and the State Board of Higher Education are working to bring adults back to college who accumulated credits but never completed a degree or other credential. State officials estimate that group includes about 106,000 people in North Dakota, making it a potentially important source of talent for employers.
The initiative is also tied to a direct budget request. The State Board has asked the Legislature for $2 million to expand outreach and communication aimed at adult learners. The request will put the cost of reconnecting former students before lawmakers as they weigh higher education priorities and the state’s broader workforce needs.
A workforce strategy beyond high school graduates
Lisa Johnson, deputy commissioner for academic and student affairs at NDUS, said the system cannot rely only on newly graduated high school students to fill future classrooms or North Dakota jobs. The population of traditional 18-year-old students is expected to diminish somewhat, creating pressure for colleges to identify other groups that could enroll and eventually enter the workforce.
“As we look at an enrollment cliff coming and the traditional 18-year-old population diminishes somewhat, this returning adult population is one that should not be neglected,” Johnson said.
The labor market figures explain why the system is broadening its approach. North Dakota has approximately 21,000 open positions, while the state has about one unemployed person for every two available jobs. That imbalance means employers are competing for a limited supply of workers, and colleges are being asked to help expand the number of residents with credentials that can improve access to available employment.
| Measure | North Dakota figure |
|---|---|
| Adults with some college credit but no credential | About 106,000 |
| Open jobs | About 21,000 |
| Requested funding for adult-learner outreach | $2 million |
| Adult-learner age range targeted by NDUS | 25 to 64 |
Colleges seek students who are already familiar with higher education
The target population is not limited to people who have never attended college. NDUS is focusing on adults ages 25 to 64 who began postsecondary education but left without finishing the credential they were pursuing. Those adults may already have completed part of a program, earned credits at more than one institution or stepped away after circumstances changed.
That history could make them a different recruitment audience from recent high school graduates. At the same time, the system faces a practical challenge: adults who left college may no longer live in the community where they first enrolled, and some may no longer be interested in returning to the program they began. Those barriers make broad outreach and clear communication central to the proposal.
NDUS already works to recruit students who left college, but Johnson said additional help is needed to reach former students who have moved or lost interest in their original course of study. The requested funding would support that communication effort, although the source material does not specify how lawmakers might divide the money among campuses or programs.
Strategic plan places adult learners among three priorities
The adult-learner effort is being incorporated into the State Board’s next strategic plan. The board has identified three enrollment goals: bringing more North Dakota students into the system, attracting and retaining students from outside the state, and enrolling more North Dakota adults who have college credit but no completed credential.
Those goals link enrollment policy to the state’s labor supply. Recruiting students from outside North Dakota can help campuses maintain enrollment, while retaining residents and bringing former students back could strengthen the number of credentialed workers who live in the state. The approach also acknowledges that the workforce challenge cannot be solved by one age group alone.
Johnson said the scale of the labor shortage requires institutions to examine every available population. In that framework, adults who previously started college are not a marginal audience but a central part of the system’s response to both demographic change and employer demand.
“If we forced every high school graduate to work, we would still have workforce shortages,” Johnson said. “It’s so important that we look at every conceivable population and subtype to meet workforce needs. This, returning adults, is a critical component for us.”
A national pool with a local share
The state’s estimate fits into a much larger national pattern. The Lumina Foundation, which works to expand access to postsecondary education, estimates that 65 million people nationwide have some college credit but no credential. North Dakota’s approximately 106,000 residents in that category represent a defined in-state audience for colleges trying to improve completion and supply employers with trained workers.
The proposal does not guarantee that every adult contacted will return to school or finish a credential. It does, however, give the state’s universities and colleges a specific population to pursue while the number of traditional college-age students changes. For lawmakers, the question will be whether a $2 million outreach investment can help convert unused college credits into completed credentials and workers for North Dakota businesses.
