www.AlaskaAlliance.com 19 (344) and a 4.2 percent increase in credit hours registration (6,499) year-over-year. The credit hours are important because they represent tuition revenue to the university, which is paid on a credit-hour basis. Among the three universities in the UA system, University of Alaska Fairbanks, or UAF, showed the strongest percentage gains with a 3.1 percent increase in headcount and a 4.1 percent increase in credit hours billed. The University of Alaska Anchorage, the largest unit in the UA system, saw a 1.7 percent gain in head count and a 4.7 percent increase in credit hours billed. University of Alaska Southeast, or UAS, the smallest unit in UA, the headcount is up 3.9 percent with credit hours billed up 0.7 percent. Significantly, over 13,000 applications were made to UA for the fall 2024 semester, up 20.3 percent from applications made for fall 2023. UAF showed the biggest gain in new applications at 50.6 percent year-overyear. UAA saw a 5.4 percent increase in applications while UAS was up 3.5 percent in applications over 2023. UAF Chancellor Dan White was upbeat in briefing to the university regents. “What us propelling us are the things that attract students, like sports, the Alaska outdoors, updated facilities,” he said. There’s also reduced reliance on state funding,” because higher enrollment brings more revenue, White said. “Our applications are up 51 percent enrollment continues to grow and retention (of staff and faculty) is improving, and research is growing. We think we’re in the right place at the right time,” the chancellor said. Despite that, UAF faces challenges, including in deferred maintenance of aging buildings. UAF has the oldest facilities in the UA system. “Moore and Bartlett (student dormitories) are almost 60 years old,” White said. The Legislature has been unable to significantly fund a backlog of deferred maintenance that is now over a billion dollars, much of it on the UAF campus. At the request of Gov. Mike Dunleavy the university put together a plan to finance the deferred maintenance as an alternative to appropriations made annually by the Legislature, which are typically less that the annual addition to the backlog. The Legislature failed to act on the proposal, however. On a more upbeat note, UA President Pat Pitney told the regents that UA’s three universities are working together well on collaborative programs, “to share knowledge, maximize access and leverage the strength and expertise that we have,” she said. On another positive note, the Rasmuson Foundation, Alaska’s major philantropic organization, has mounted a program to attract foundations and donors from the Lower 48 to support UA ans providing its own support through the university’s Arctic Leadership Program. Rasmuson recently brought a group of funders from the Lower 48 to visit UA leaders and including visits to outlying campuses. Rasmuson itself has pledged $5 million spread over the next five years to support the university, Pitney said. — Tim Bradner
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==