Fewer classes, part-time teachers keep costs low for university centers

South Dakota's university centers are spending less money on instructors, and it's not just because they have fewer students. 

The three centers in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Pierre have all seen a decline in their instructional costs in recent years, according to a report presented to the Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee on Monday. 

The drop is due not only to declining enrollments, but also to a strategic push to offer fewer courses and hire part-time adjunct instructors. 

"All of the centers have been using adjuncts to control costs," said Mike Rush, executive director for the Board of Regents.

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Reliance on adjuncts is higher in Pierre and Rapid City, though the Sioux Falls center also relies on part-time instructors. 

In Pierre, for example, the Capital University Center (CUC) simply doesn't have enough students to employ many full-time faculty members, said Paul Turman, vice president for academic affairs for the regents. 

"You couldn't be a full-time math teacher at CUC in Pierre because they only offer one to two math sections per semester," Turman said. 

Similarly, most classes are taught by adjuncts at the Rapid City center, which is run by Black Hills State University.

"That's always been a measure that has helped hold down our instructional costs," said Executive Director Greg Bilodeau. 

That's not the case in Sioux Falls, which had 525 full-time equivalent students last year. 

Adjuncts make up about 30 percent of the instructional staff in the city's university center, and the center has made no concerted effort to increase the number of part-time staff.

Most of the cost savings in Sioux Falls have come from a strategic effort to decrease the number of courses offered, said Executive Director Craig Johnson. 

In the fall of 2016, the center offered 290 courses. This fall, only 166 are scheduled. 

Rapid City is using a similar approach to drive down costs even further on top of savings from employing mostly adjuncts. 

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"Instead of offering three or four English composition classes, we'd offer two," Bilodeau said. "And we increase enrollments in those." 

Fewer course options are helpful in saving money but can be more burdensome for students. 

Jake Moir, a 23-year-old Sioux Falls student, said he chose the university center because it allowed him to work full-time while working on his marketing degree. 

Now in his last year, he said it's become more challenging to schedule classes. 

"I had to settle for some classes that I didn't want to take," Moir said. 

Fewer options can be a benefit for students looking for a simple path to a degree, Johnson said. But not everyone's path is simple. 

"We have students that have jobs," Bilodeau said. "They have families. They have obligations ... It's constantly a moving target how we schedule classes."