Dear Colleagues-
After gathering feedback from the campuses, identifying areas of concern, and discussing the various options available we’ve come to the conclusion that we will keep the original census extract deadline dates for the 16-17 Academic Year and foreseeable future. Though there are still concerns with the discrepancies in census numbers, at present there does not seem to be an approach that will allow us to gather the information in a more timely manner that does not cause further problems for at least some campuses. We will continue to encourage campuses to get census extracts completed as quickly as possible after the 15th class day and will be working on some additional daily statistics gathering that should assist us in our ability to monitor numbers in an effort to be able to provide transparency around the process. We will also be working to find ways to improve the process such that census and end-of-term values will have as little difference as possible and welcome suggestions that will assist in these goals.
We ask that if you deal with requests from the media for this information that you do not release numbers until your census extracts have been run. Making sure we’re all working off the same information will be key to ensuring that any requests to either campuses or OCHE will be repeatable and defensible.
Thank you as always for your participation and patience as we look for ways to improve.
John
John Thunstrom
MUS IT Director
Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education
(406) 544-3822
