HELENA – Montana’s university system has hired a marketing company in an attempt to attract and enroll more students in its two-year colleges.
The percentage of undergraduate students enrolled in two-year programs is 29 percent in Montana, which trails the national average of 46 percent.
But that’s still an improvement from 2001, when just 17 percent of undergraduates went to two-year Montana colleges.
The Independent Record reports the university system has now hired Strategies 360 Montana to promote the two-year schools.
The program is funded through a $1.77 million grant from the private, Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education.
Deputy commissioner for two-year and community college education John Cech says the program is a continuation of an effort that began years ago to expand the scope of the two-year schools.