NH’s plan to address low college enrollments

University of New Hampshire. (Courtesy Getty Images)

By Mrinali Dhembla

July 26, 2024

Amidst concerns of decreased university enrollment, the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) and the Community College System of New Hampshire would consolidate under a new law signed this month.

House Bill 1450, requires higher education institutions to work with a task force to work toward implementing strategies to increase enrollment and decrease operational costs by combining resources.

Another aim of the law is to reduce duplication of courses and academic courses, and streamline administrative costs. Enrollment throughout all state-run colleges and universities in New Hampshire came down to 27,056 in 2023, from 31,307 in 2019.

Under similar efforts to address the crisis of rising operational costs and reduced enrollment rates in the state, New Hampshire could realign the college credit system so community college students are able to transfer more course credits over to four-year institutions.

The state is also looking to fast-track automatic admissions into USNH schools for community college students with high GPAs.

Author

Mrinali Dhembla

Based in Manchester, Mrinali Dhembla is Granite Post's multimedia reporter. She's previously worked as deputy editor at The Keene Sentinel, and has experience writing for many national and international publications. When not doing journalism, she likes to cook food (and eat it).

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CATEGORIES: HIGHER EDUCATION

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