Spring Break
Dramatic rise in WCC enrollment strains stagnant staff and services
Decreased state and tax revenue has forced many schools to limit enrollment, an unlikely, but possible fate for WCC if economic decline continues
Addie Shrodes
Issue date: 5/11/09 Section: WCC News
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The downturned economy has spurned an increase in Washtenaw Community College enrollment. So expect the hustle and bustle around campus this summer to be more acute than last.
"It's a historical trend that when unemployment goes up, community college enrollments especially go up," said Linda Blakey, associate vice president of Student Services.
Spring/Summer 2009 enrollment has increased 14.4 percent over 2008 as of a count taken April 23 in both years: 6,086 in 2008 and 6,965 in 2009. Credit hours have increased by 21.2 percent, with 34,279 hours in 2008 and 41,538 this Spring/Summer.
Enrollment will continue to increase, even into the semester, as there are multiple terms during the summer months. At the end of the 2008 Spring/Summer Semester, 7,407 students had registered for classes. As of May 8, just the first day of classes for Spring/Summer 2009, 8,135 students had enrolled -1,117 more than at last year's start of semester.
"May 29 then starts a 10-week term, and a large number of students also start then," Registrar Larry Aeilts said.
Although the increase over last year as of the April 23 date is 14.4 percent, Blakey estimates that the total increase will only be 4-5 percent.
"I tend to estimate low, because over the last few years, we tend to have people who are registering earlier and earlier, so I wouldn't look at theses numbers and say, 'Oh, we are going to be 14 percent up by the end of the semester,'" Blakey said. "But we could still pick up students. Last year we picked up almost 400 students from the beginning of the semester until the end."
WCC, predicting a three percent increase in enrollment for all three semesters of the 2008-09 academic year, built a reflective increase in tuition revenue into its 2008-09 budget.
"We tend to be fairly conservative when trying to predict enrollment increases, especially when looking at the budget," Blakey said. "We don't want to say we are going to be up 10 percent, because if you don't make that, there are more serious consequences. If you don't have all the money anticipated, then you are looking at making cuts in the middle of the year."
But increased enrollment and the tuition it brings doesn't correlate to increased budgetary freedom. In the 2008-09 academic year, tuition made up only 22.5 percent of the college's revenue, and funding from Washtenaw County property taxes, which made up 54 percent of revenue, and state funding are going down with the economy. And there are many costs associated with student classes and needs.
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