Colleges see slight drop in enrollment

Lorain County post-secondary institutions are seeing a slight drop in enrollment numbers, according to the colleges.

Lorain County Community College and Oberlin College released statistics that show that a strong economy is contributing to slight dips in enrollment.

LCCC showed a 4.1 percent decline over the last year in analyzing enrollment rates for the fall terms in 2017 and 2018.

Enrollment in 2017 was 11,167; in 2018, it was 10,663, figures show.

Tracy Green, LCCC’s vice president of Strategic and Institutional Development, said the statistics are following local trends in higher education.

“With higher education in general, enrollments are declining,” Green said. “They are levelling off in terms of school rate, but we’re still seeing people that are electing to work.

“And I think particularly for community colleges, it’s not that surprising for us. We run against the economic cycle.

“When there’s a strong economy, enrollment dips. When there’s a recession, people take advantage of those times to re-tool and go back to school for higher education.”

Over the past five years, LCCC has seen nuances in its enrollment with significant growth in high school students taking college classes, with many earning associate degrees through the school’s early college program.

“The exciting thing was, that last May (2017), we had 43 percent of high school students had some kind of credit from LCCC,” Green said.

With LCCC’s introduction of its applied bachelor’s degree program in microelectronic manufacturing and working with local employers, the institution is providing opportunities to students under the earn-and-learn model to complete internships while obtaining a degree.

“When we look back in 20 and 30 years at the growth of the institution, it will be 2018 that set the stage,” Green said.

In addition to high school students, LCCC is seeing nontraditional students who are coming back to school to obtain specific credentials, adapting to the shifts in the economy and technology to meet current market demands, she said. Oberlin College Over the course of the same period between fall 2017 and 2018, Oberlin College saw similar trends in enrollment with 2,827 students in 2017 versus 2,785 in 2018, a decrease of 1.4 percent, according to figures.

As a four-year post-secondary institution, Oberlin College plays a slightly different role in the community in comparison to community colleges, officials said.

However, economic trends and low unemployment in northeast Ohio appear to be following the statistical trends in higher education.

“After a couple of years where enrollment took a slight dip, Oberlin is returning to its historic incomingclass numbers,” said Manuel Carballo, Oberlin College’s vice president and dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. “The enthusiasm of a new president and increasing distance from a mix of factors that adversely affected the higher education landscape nationwide has had positive results.

“The campus community came together in a wonderful way to help admissions yield a strong first-year class, and we continue to attract the dynamic students, faculty and staff that make Oberlin such a special place.”