Enrollment Declines At NWACC Farmington Center

FARMINGTON — Judy Horne, an instructor at the Farmington Center for NorthWest Arkansas Community College, opens her classroom early and eats lunch in her room in between classes to be available to her students.

Horne said that this is typical of most instructors at the community college.

“We really care about our students and want them to do well,” Horne said, adding the attitude throughout the school is that “our students are so important to us.”

Student enrollment at the Farmington Center followed the trend of the rest of the school and slightly declined this year, said Steven Hinds, executive director of public relations and marketing. Hinds said community colleges statewide and nationwide saw a decline in student numbers this year.

The fall enrollment in Farmington declined from 364 students in 2012 to 337 students for 2013. Schoolwide, enrollment declined 3.8 percent, from 8,418 students in 2012 to 8,102 students this year, according to a Sept. 5 news release from the college.

Hinds said enrollment at community colleges tends to run inversely to the economy. When the economy has a downturn, people turn to the community college to complete a degree to help find a job or take additional courses to help with their current job.

“When the economy starts to level off, then our enrollment starts to decline,” Hinds said, noting people feel more confident during better economic times.

The Farmington location offers 29 courses, has 17 full- time and parttime instructors and has four people on staff in the building. The staff includes a full-time center manager, full-time public safety officer, part-time public safety officer and a part- time off-campus support person.

Students who take classes in Farmington come from all over Washington and Benton counties. For the fall semester, 142 students are from Fayetteville. Another 40 are from Farmington and 39 are from Springdale. Other cities represented include 29 students from Prairie Grove, 19 from West Fork and 14 from Lincoln. Students also come from Rogers, Bentonville, Elkins, West Fork, Siloam Springs, Huntsville and Gentry to take classes in Farmington.

The average age of the students for the fall semester is 23 years-old.

Horne has taught for 35 years. She worked at the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas for 22 years, either as a full-time professor, parttime instructor and as assistant dean for freshman and sophomore students. When the opportunity came up to teach at NWACC in Bentonville, she decided to change campuses. Horne has been with the community college for 13 years.

Horne said she likes the community college because of its emphasis on helping each student.

As an example, she was helping one of her students last week. The student, Celina Bustamant of Springdale, came in early because she had to leave later to go to work.

Horne said the commun i ty co l l e ge wo rk s together as a team from the administration down to custodial staff with the goal that students like Bustamant succeed.