When Doug North became president of Alaska Pacific University in 1995, he said he would either be a great president or the university's last president.
At the time APU, was in trouble and the odds were not in its favor.
APU's accreditation as a university was in danger of being revoked within the year. To make matters worse, APU was facing a fiscal crisis, plunging enrollment and a $25 million debt.
Just two out of 10 educational institutions keep their accreditation after being notified that it could be taken away, North told members of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Jan. 24.
The university beat the odds: APU was taken off probation in 1997 and its accreditation was secured.
A decade after North took the helm, APU's enrollment has increased nearly 60 percent - from about 350 full-time- equivalent students in 1995 to some 550 in 2005 - as annual tuition for a full-time undergraduate student has more than doubled, from $7,500 to $18,000 a year.
North advised Alaskans, however, not to be deterred by APU's $18,000 price tag. College scholarships specific to Alaska residents combined with other available scholarships can cut the cost of attending APU as a full-time undergraduate student in half.
The university's gross revenue from tuition has reached $8 million this year, from $3.4 million in 1995, and its debt has dropped to $14 million, according to North.
APU's transformation was the product of dramatic changes in the way it operates.
By focusing on experiential learning and innovative programs for niche markets, APU was able to establish an identity, he said. "The platform I ran off of was we are not going to brand ourselves on what we teach, but how we teach."
The university's curriculum is now based on learning through trial and error. North said students have to take acceptable risks to make mistakes and learn from them.
"Experience is the greatest teacher," he said. "Higher education has a tremendous problem with that because it doesn't know how to urge them on to failure."
As an example, all education classes taught at APU have a classroom component, requiring students to take part in classrooms at elementary and middle schools in Anchorage and the surrounding area.
North also launched programs targeting nontraditional students.
The Rural Alaska Native Adult Distance Education program enables Alaskans to earn a college certificate or degree while living in their own communities. Students travel to Anchorage at the beginning of each semester before returning home to complete courses online. Yearly enrollment of the program has about tripled from its first class of a dozen people in 1998, North said.
The university's Early Honors program has also grown in popularity since its inception in 2000.
Of the 75 high school seniors who applied to complete their final year of high school and their freshman of college simultaneously at APU, the university selected 40 for the current academic year. As an honors program, North said he wants it to be selective and plans to continuing capping each year's class at 40 students.
APU's changes have not gone unnoticed.
U.S. News & World Report's Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked APU No. 52 among the best Western universities offering undergraduate and master's programs. A decade ago, APU was among the guide's lowest-tiered schools, North said.
As APU rose through the ranks, North ran the gamut of emotions.
"Over the past 10 years I have felt elation, despair, determination to see it through, growing confidence, sudden setbacks - all of the emotions that come with a passionate professional commitment, that dangerous equating of oneself with what one does," he said.
This year, North said he is elated because APU's current enrollment rose 12 percent from last semester and applications for the next academic year are up 40 percent over last year at this time.
To add, the university's annual budget of $13 million is in the black. APU came out $50,000 ahead last fiscal year, ending in June 2004. North added that he anticipates the university will make $200,000 at the end of this fiscal year.
Looking toward the future, North said he wants to cap his student body at 640 full-time-equivalent students by 2008 to focus on being selective using a wide range of criteria.
