Northeastern State University president: Broken Arrow campus poised for future growth

Written By: John Dobberstein

(BROKEN ARROW, Okla.) After weather 15 straight years of declines, Northeastern State University’s enrollment is rebounding and the Broken Arrow campus is gearing up for expansion and growth, NSU President Dr. Rodney Hanley told business leaders this week.

Read this story on Broken Arrow Sentinel here.

Hanley shared a glimpse of what the future will hold for NSU’s Broken Arrow facility after a change in state law now allows freshman students to take classes here.

NSU, like many other universities, faced an “enrollment cliff” in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, financial pressures on families, lowered birth rates and economic downturns. This has meant fewer traditional college-age students going into higher education, said Handley, who was installed as NSU’s president in 2023.

“The financial pressures that students face and their families face for higher education is as deep and profound as any time in our nation’s history. There’s more student loan debt in the United States today than credit card debt,” Hanley said.

“A person with a bachelor’s degree will earn multiple times more than someone with a high school degree. And people with a graduate degree, a master’s or even a doctorate, will earn even multiple times more than that. So it pays off, but it’s a difficult prospect to afford it.”

NSU is, therefore, making adjustments to expand its reach in the market knowing the average age of college students is getting older and the market for attracting 18- to 24-year-old students is getting very competitive. The university is more students arrive who are in mid-career and wanting to obtain a degree to earn a promotion or boost their employment resume.

Hanley says overall enrollment at NSU has increased the last 5 semesters after more than a decade of declines. That includes a 1.5% increase in last fall’s head count compared to the previous year, and a 2% increase in credit hour production from this time last year. Total enrollment is now more than 8,000 students.

Included in the growth is a 5% increase in high school concurrent enrollment as students take college-level courses here. NSU also saw an 86% increase last fall in international students enrolled, says Hanley, who planned to leave Broken Arrow this week on a 2-week “major” international recruiting mission.

NSU remains one of the top universities in the national for Native American enrollment, as nearly 33% of identify as Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, Chickisaw or other tribes.

Hanley also says NSU is seeing more students coming from the state’s flagship universities such as University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. “These are kids that may have left the area to go off to one of those schools, but for one reason or another it just wasn’t for them,” he says.  

About 90% of NSU’s students are from Oklahoma, and 32% are first-generation college students.  Some 45% of students come from a background of “acute financial need.” He also notes 96% of NSU graduates stay in the state of Oklahoma for their jobs, which helps boost economic growth.

“We often tell ourselves that we change people’s lives. And that is true. But I would propose to you that we do more than that,” Hanley says of NSU’s mission. “For a student that comes from a background of acute financial need, we didn’t just change their lives, we changed the trajectory of generations of their family, right?”

A recent study by NSU showed the university supports more than 4,600 jobs and produces $224 million wages in the state, and in Broken Arrow the university creates $72 million in economic output and wages, including $35 million annually in student spending. For every dollar NSU gets from state in appropriations it is returning $13.50 back into the state’s economy, Hanley says.

With Senate Bill 701 passing, Broken Arrow’s campus will begin accepting freshman students for enrollment in January. It wasn’t without a fight: Hanley says he’s been involved in a lot of legislative efforts for higher education at other universities and SB 701 was the most complex. The bill, which takes effect Nov. 1, was pushed through by State Sen. Christi Gillespie and State Sen. John Haste, both of Broken Arrow.

“We had opponents in every direction you look. I had other universities lobbying against this. I had community colleges lobbying against it. I had mayors of other towns lobbying against this. But you just move that noise off to the side and keep your eyes on the prize,” Hanley confided.  

The first- and second-year courses that will be offered, NSU says, includes composition, literature, algebra, statistics, history, oral communication, chemistry and biology. There’s even a course entitled, “Taylor Swift: the Woman, the Music, the Industry.”

“I’m telling you,” Hanley says, “the strategy was to appeal to that 18- to 24-year-old demographic. So if you’re a Swifty, come on in.” The offerings will ramp up further as additional teaching capacity is added in Broken Arrow.

NSU is adding men’s and women’s wrestling, volleyball, cross country and track and field as new sports, and the wrestling matches will take place at Broken Arrow High School’s wrestling facility. In the next several years, NSU is eyeing housing and other amenities for the Broken Arrow campus as it continues to grow and see the impact of freshman students here.

“We are definitely on the upswing,” Hanley says. “We are proud to be in Broken Arrow. We are proud to be Tahlequah, and Northeastern State University is a very special place.”