October 16, 2026

By Delaney Otto | Grand Forks Herald
Photo by Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald

EAST GRAND FORKS — Northland Community and Technical College is doing high-impact work within the communities it serves, said NCTC President Shari Olson.

The key, Olson said, is a growth in enrollment, along with an increase in graduating students and efforts to place those graduates in locally important jobs and with livable wages.

She said she wants people to know Northland is growing and that there is a strategy behind that growth. Each year, the college identifies five continuous improvement projects.

“We are focused on solving problems within the college to make our students’ experience better, to get them enrolled faster and to recruit more students into the pipeline to experience Northland Community and Technical College, to graduate and then enter the workforce and be competitive in our communities,” she said.

Northland celebrated its enrollment growth at its State of the College luncheon, held Friday, Oct. 16, in collaboration with the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce. Olson and four of Northland’s deans spoke at the event.

The college, which created a strategic goal in fall 2024 to increase enrollment by 10% over three years (2024-2027), has beaten the goal and has already reached 21.44% growth. Olson said Northland is one of the top three two-year colleges in Minnesota for growth and has been in the top three or five consistently over the past three years.

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