3 min read April 2023 — In an interview with Invest:, Sandy Kiddoo, president of Northland Community & Technical College, discussed key highlights and milestones, shifts in demand, advancing equity and the role of partnerships for the college.
What have been the key highlights for Northland Community & Technical College in the last 12 months?
We have transitioned our college into a post-COVID environment using what we learned from the pandemic in terms of how to deliver education. Coming in as a new president in the middle of COVID, I didn’t set foot on campus during my interviews. For a college president, it is important to meet the community and during my first year, the restrictions made it challenging. However, we found ways to connect and had some events that showcased the college and the things we do because we realized the communities we serve weren’t aware of the programming we offer.
We know that education has shifted greatly, and we are still working on an older model. We started thinking about what the future was going to look like and what framework we needed. As a result, we developed a strategic plan and identified four areas of focus namely partnerships, student success, access and advancing equity. Partnerships includes with K-12 and business and industry, which are critical for our programs. We know there is a labor shortage happening across the country. We are working to attract people into northern Minnesota and provide them with the right skills to learn and work at the same time.
How has demand for programs shifted over the last couple of years?
Our students’ expectations are shifting, they want on-demand learning. YouTube has given people the ability to learn something when they want, and that is not historically how higher education has operated. That is a big shift and in a system that is slow to change, it is challenging at times.
Northland Community & Technical College is a comprehensive college, we offer both transfer pathways and technical programs. Right now, we are in an environment where technical programs have a high demand from employers, but not necessarily from students. The current labor market is very hot, so people are attracted to different pathways besides higher education. We must rethink how we provide those credentials that will help students and their families have prosperity.
Higher education enrollment has dropped, a study suggested that 50% of high school graduates are going into higher education because there are great opportunities. However, the cost can be a big issue, so we’ve been doing several things to help in that regard. We have increased our online offering and our high-flex environment. We have a competency-based lab format where students can learn their lectures online and come practice at the lab with a flexible schedule. We are finding what is the best way to deliver.
In what ways is Northland Community & Technical College working to advance equity?
We have to make sure that all of our students, regardless of their background, are successful. Our priorities are student success, access, partnerships and advancing equity because when we look at our data, we see different groups of students and we know that those that are first-generation, from low-income families, PELL-eligible, Native American or students of Color aren’t as successful as others. How do we make sure those students are welcome, including and are successful so we can produce a strong workforce? That is core to what we do, it is the fair thing to do and is integral to the economy to help strengthen the talent pool.
What do you see as some of the unique challenges and opportunities the college is facing?
A lot of higher education institutions are set up by semesters and require students to come full time and it doesn’t necessarily work for most students. So, a challenge for us is the speed at which we need to change. We see some state and federal constraints such as how to deliver financial aid, so we need to figure out a workaround to be able to serve our students.
In the state of Minnesota, we are having demographic shifts. Where we once served traditional students coming out of high school, we are now serving more non-traditional in terms of age. We serve a lot of new Americans and a wide variety of students, so we are shifting to accommodate these changes.
Lastly, we used to be a competitive employer where people wanted to come because of the stability and benefits. Now, we are not seeing that anymore. Some of our faculty in high-demand areas could make so much more outside of higher education, so we are seeing more turnover than ever before. We need to remain competitive to make sure we can serve the businesses in the region.
What is the Northland Community & Technical College doing to tackle affordability?
As a community and technical college, we are low-cost. We are fortunate because a lot of our students can get federal financial aid to cover most of their costs and we also have a lot of scholarships.
The other piece on affordability that is rarely talked about is related to other costs like having a place to live, food and transportation. Oftentimes our federal financial aid doesn’t cover this need. However, because the labor market is so hard, many employers pay generous benefits or tuition, so we have students who are going to work for those companies and then come back to college. We are starting a new website called Northland Works where we identify those employers that have those benefits.
What are some of the key partnerships the college is leveraging?
We have partnered with Marvin Windows, a large manufacturer in our region. They are experiencing challenges to bring talented people into their community. Their headquarters are located in a remote location next to Canada. They invested in a facility and are giving it to us at a low cost to offer our program out there. Without our resources, we wouldn’t have been able to do that. It is not just for Marvin’s employees, but everyone in the community can leverage the resource. There are other businesses in that area that need the skill and without that investment and that employer partnership, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.
For more information, visit:
