May 11, 2015
TC3 enrollment drop follows national trend
DRYDEN — Enrollment at Tompkins Cortland Community College is expected to dip 1 percent next year. Enrollment has dropped 10 percent over the past four years.
The decrease is part of a national trend of fewer students attending community colleges since 2012, according to the American Association of Community Colleges.
For this academic year ending in 2015, the college estimates a total of 3,633 students to attend, which includes the students taking summer classes that have not yet begun. That is slightly more than what the college expects next year. TC3 is expecting 3,602 full-time equivalent students to take classes at the college in the 2015-16 academic year, said Blixy Taetzsch, dean of operations and enrollment management. In a count of the college’s full-time equivalent students, the credits of multiple part-time students are added together and that group of students is considered one full-time student.
National drop
Across the nation, fall enrollment at two-year public institutions declined in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by an average of 3.5 percent each year, according to an American Association of Community Colleges report released in March.
A variety of factors are likely contributing to the decrease at TC3, Taetzsch said.
As the economy recovers, there are more opportunities for people to work, she noted.
The national enrollment decline could be a result of older students, who were previously employed, returning to work, according to the association’s report.
“It is important to keep in mind that, during a three-year period at the height of the recession, enrollments at two-year public institutions increased by almost 22 percent,” the report noted.
TC3 saw “unprecedented” growth in the fall of 2009, near the official end of the Great Recession, with student enrollment jumping by 9.2 percent over the prior year, Taetzsch said.
For the previous decade before the enrollment spike, the college’s student body was consistently growing, she said. The decrease in enrollment is new for the college and not a historical norm, according to Taetzsch.
TC3’s enrollment is also affected by smaller student bodies in local school districts, she said. There are fewer teens in the community graduating, so fewer are going to the local college, she said.
Taetzsch said she also believed that fewer high school graduates are going on to college in general.
Many feel they cannot afford to go to college, she said.
“I think fewer people want toborrow money to come to school, too,” Taetzsch said.
‘Robust interest’
While TC3 is experiencing an overall decline, some programs within the college are experiencing growth, said John Conners, TC3 provost and vice president.
The college’s Farm to Bistro program, which added culinary arts and sustainable farming and food systems degree programs to the college, has been appealing to students, Conners said.
The culinary arts degree program, which had 40 students in its first year in 2014-15, has received 150 applications so far for the upcoming fall semester, Taetzsch said.
“We’ll easily exceed 200 applications, I think,” she said.
TC3’s Concurrent Enrollment program, which allows high school students to take college classes for free at their own schools, has also seen an increase in student interest, Taetzsch said. The estimated 967 full-time equivalent students enrolled this academic year is a 10 percent increase over last year.
The college is conservatively estimating enrollment in the program to increase another 2 percent next year, Taetzsch said. The exact increase will not be known until the fall, she said.
With enrollment down and state funding coming in at lower than requested levels, TC3 is trying to balance a budget gap of more than $100,000 and asking the Legislatures of Cortland and Tompkins counties for a 4 percent funding contribution increase.
Cortland County legislators have not supported the increase, citing the county’s own budget restraints. Tompkins County is expected to support the increase.
Attracting students
TC3 is taking several tacks to try to attract and keep students at the college.
“Overall, we’re really trying hard to address the enrollment challenges,” Conners said.
TC3 is starting a new mentoring program next year for as many as 60 first-semester students to help them manage their increased responsibilities and freedoms so that they can successfully continue their education, he noted.
Students returning for additional semesters have a profound effect on the college’s enrollment numbers, Conners said.
The program, called Vector Scholars, will be funded by a $1.6 million donation from Arthur Kuckes, a college trustee and benefactor. Kuckes owns Vector Magnetics, an Ithaca business that specializes in oil pipelineinstallation.
The college is also exploring other avenues that could attract students to the program, including three initiatives presented along with the Vector Scholars program to the board of trustees in November.
Those initiatives include a new child care center, a plan to recruit new instructors from minority groups to provide students with role models and a plan to merge different degree programs to have students complete interdisciplinary projects.
The new initiatives would be paid for by outside funding sources, such as the TC3 Foundation, Conners said. The Farm to Bistro program’s restaurant and farm that has already attracted students to the college was also paid for by the TC3 foundation and other outside sources.
“We’re trying to be very creative and visionary in using non-tax dollars to advance the college and our students,” he said.
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