Educational attainment & pipeline
26.5% of Fargo, ND-MN residents possess a bachelor’s degree (7.4% above the national average) and 14.1% hold an associate’s degree (6% above the national average).*
In 2019, there were 5,905 graduates in Fargo, ND-MN. The highest share of these graduates come from the following fields: Registered Nursing, Business Administration and Management, and Psychology.*
*Source: Emsi, 2020 via GFMEDC
About Tri-College University
Tri-College University is a partnership comprised of Concordia College, Minnesota State University Moorhead, North Dakota State University, Minnesota State Community and Technical College and North Dakota State College of Science. This course exchange program allows undergraduate students to take courses at any partner campus with no additional tuition or admission procedures. The grades from classes taken at the partner campuses are included on their transcripts at their home campus. Tri-College also shares resources to improve the quality of education, such as the library shuttle service, providing access to more than 2 million volumes/journals.
Via the course exchange, students and their families have saved an estimated $266 million (2018 dollars).
The partnership has 35,000 full- and part-time students, placing it on par with a Big Ten campus, and is celebrating its 50th year!
Did you know?
Moorhead Area Public Schools residents and voters approved an $110 million bond referendum in a special election in November 2019. The bond referendum will address high school student capacity and adequacy needs by rebuilding the Moorhead High School at the current site location and developing a career academy at the former Sam’s Club facility.
Our largest area college, NDSU not only has a champion football team, but is making waves for its academic achievements and research environment. An on-campus Research & Technology Park provides a startup incubator, the college runs an annual Innovation Challenge, and now has the Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth.
Our schools in the news
Fargo won the 2019 Most Educated City Award in North Dakota from Insurify! Using the educational data reported by drivers who submitted over 1.6 million car insurance applications, each city was analyzed for the overall academic achievement of its citizens. An education score was determined using a proprietary scoring algorithm that incorporated the educational history and performance of each driver or the GPA of current students.
The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program named North Dakota State College of Science one of 150 community colleges eligible to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance among America's community colleges. Based on strong and improving student outcomes — including in learning, completion rates, employment rates and earnings, and equity — 15% of community colleges nationwide were invited to apply for the Aspen Prize.
West Fargo’s Harwood Elementary School has been named a National Blue Ribbon School for 2019. Each year, the U.S. Department of Education recognizes a group of schools across the country as Blue Ribbon Schools. U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, announced the 362 schools selected for the award, of which, two are from North Dakota. It is the third consecutive year that an elementary school in West Fargo Public Schools has been honored; Legacy Elementary was named in 2017 and Freedom Elementary School was named in 2018.
