College enrollment numbers down

Economy, drop in unemployment are factors, NEO officials report

While local college enrollment numbers remain steady, external trends continue to have an impact on matriculation at Lakeland Community College and Cuyahoga County Community College, officials from both schools confirm.

Factors like the economy and unemployment are cyclical realities that, in turn, affect registration numbers nearly every semester and academic year, notes Laura Barnard, the executive vice president and provost at Lakeland.

“Unemployment rates in Ohio have fallen from 10.3 percent in 2010 when the Great Recession ended to 4.9 percent today,” Barnard said. “Typically, when the economy is strong, adult learners age 22 and older tend to leave higher education and go back to the work force. This fall, the number of Lakeland students age 22 and over is down 12.6 percent.”

A declining number of high school graduates, due to lower birth rates during economic recessions, is also a variable in decreasing enrollment numbers.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, in Ohio, the number of high school graduates fell 10.2 percent from 2010 to 2018.

To offset these enrollment challenges, Barnard said, Lakeland will continue to implement new strategies to generate more inquiries and applicants as well as retain current students.

“This fall, Lakeland added an associate’s degree in occupational therapy assisting and certificate programs in polysomnography (the study of sleep disorders) and State Tested Nursing Assistant,” Barnard added. “We also launched our honors program enrolling 39 high-achieving students with an average GPA of 3.7.”

In addition to the economy and unemployment, retention also remains a strong strategic enrollment strategy at Tri-C. To date, the school has 23,340 students. Provost Karen Miller said the school’s enrollment data is slightly better than expected,

but also down, adding the trend is estimated, too, when the economy is doing well.

“People are working more and setting aside other priorities,

this has more or less been the trend for the last decade or so, as long as we’ve seen the data, about a three percent decrease. We remain constant in that we try to retain students as opposed to employing strategies to increase enrollment, per se.

“This is especially important

at community colleges where most of the people aren’t your typical campus-life students,” she said. “There’s a pronounced emphasis on balancing work, class, family and other life challenges regarding schedules. We are, however, seeing a bigger difference in graduating students, 4,444

(2017-18) and steadily going up. Four of the five past years, we’ve had record numbers.”

Other trends, Miller noted, have included a sustained increase in College Credit Plus enrollees, high school students taking college courses without having to pay for them.

With about 1,500 CCP students roughly three years ago, Tri-C currently has 4,000-plus, and as of last semester, is the largest college credit provider in the state.

“While our transfer population is slightly up, with summer transient students and online classes, our population remains strong, despite

the dip in enrollment,” Miller said. “We’ve seen a 10 percent increase in fully online students, as well. We view this (all) as areas of opportunity, and continue looking to expand online learning, delivering modes of service for students who need the flexibility.”