Less students creates challenges for departments, programs
By Stephen Cook
As a new semester begins, there are a number of faces that won’t be seen again in the classroom. Enrollment is on the decline and credit hours and students are both less than in the fall.
On Monday, Jan. 27 a total of 15,815 students were enrolled at the college with a total count of 135,988 credit hours, according to MargE Shelley, Assistant Dean of Enrollment Management.
However, Shelley emphasized day-to-day and moment-to-moment comparisons do not mean much. To be accurate, numbers must be compared to the year before. Also, comparing numbers on the 20th day, after students have finalized enrollment, late start classes have begun and college now classes have begun, gives a better idea of where things stand. The official numbers from the 20th day will be available on Feb. 11, Shelley said.
The 20th day numbers from the spring of 2013 were 17,837 students and 144,303 credit hours. In the fall of 2013, there were more than 16,000 students enrolled.
Csilla Duneczky, Dean, Sciences and Math, has seen her department cut classes as not enough students are enrolling in various sections.
“We weren’t really expecting it to be this low,” Duneczky said, “We did see it low in the fall, and there have been some changes in math with some prerequisites and things like that, so we did schedule a few less sections than we normally do, but even so it’s lower than we were expecting.”
Andy Anderson, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Administrative Officer, explained that a lot of unknown factors play into the enrollment numbers as well as deciding on how many classes should be offered.
“Scheduling is partly science and partly an art, if you will,” Anderson said. “Trying to anticipate how many sections I need [of a class] from semester to semester is difficult.”
Among the classes that remain, Duneczky offered an optimistic outlook.
“We’re seeing a lot of classes that have openings; they used to be full,” Duneczky said. “It’s kind of nice in one way: students get a lot more personal attention; so you do have a small class, but it can also be a little awkward if you don’t have enough people.”
When sections get cancelled due to low enrollment, she said they call the student and try to work with them to see what other classes they could take. However, this can be difficult due to conflicts and restrictions within a student’s personal schedule.
This also means that, for example, one adjunct faculty member won’t be working at the college this semester, Duneczky said.
Also, the college hasn’t been replacing faculty unless essential. Anderson said compared to two years ago, the college is down 18-20 full-time faculty. Adjuncts are on the decline as well.
Now, Anderson believes it is important to consider what the college should be to the community.
“I don’t know that we’ve ever answered it in kind of a clear, philosophical way, as to what is the right size for this college. We’ve always just sort of grown as the demand increased,” Anderson said. “We got bigger and that’s tied in part to trying to be the center of the community and providing whatever the community needed.”
For programs offered by the college, the shrinking numbers becomes an issue of sustainability, Anderson said. Community colleges are being forced to decide what they can be most effectively.
“There’s always been this sense that we should be sort of as big as the community, as many people as want to come should be able to come,” Anderson said. “When our enrollment was peaking we were being forced to almost question, ‘How big can we be?’ I think now with the kind of declining numbers, the question is, ‘How big do we need to be to provide the services that we feel are important to provide?’”
These decisions are going to directly affect what is offered at the college in the future, he explained.
“As a school gets smaller you’re forced to make some choices,” Anderson said. “You get into questions — can we be everything to everybody? If you don’t have enough students, the answer is absolutely not.”
Be sure to pick up the next issue of the Campus Ledger and visit CampusLedger.com for updated statistics as information becomes available.
Contact Stephen Cook, editor-in-chief, at scook35@jccc.edu.