HowieHanson.com Section
Across the country, declining enrollment and mounting financial pressures are forcing school districts to reconsider their futures. But the price of closing a neighborhood school cannot be measured in dollars alone.
For years, America subtly treated trade education as a secondary path for students who supposedly could not “make it” academically. That narrative now looks outdated and borderline absurd. Many technical programs are competitive, mathematically rigorous and tied to industries starving for talent.
Lake Superior College will host a resource fair for veterans and active military personnel from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Nov. 5, in
Debt service already consumes about 60 percent of the school levy. With this addition of $38 million in bonding debt, Duluth is entering a decade in which the school system will spend more paying off debt than teaching future students.
And lest anyone think St. Scholastica is just a nice regional option, the rankings folks beg to differ. U.S. News puts them among the Best National Universities, Money magazine says it’s one of the “Best Colleges for Your Money,” and the Princeton Review keeps listing it among the Midwest’s best.
Post Secondary Enrollment Option enrollment rose by more than 90 students compared with last fall. The Lake Superior College Foundation awarded more than $250,000 in scholarships, with about 75% of applicants receiving aid.
This isn’t a backup school. This is the first choice for anyone who wants to get to work — or transfer to a four-year school later — without drowning in debt or spending their freshman year stuck in a 300-seat lecture hall learning theories they’ll never use.
