By Lindsey Bever/editor-in-chief
TCC spring enrollment has mirrored its 1 percent fall ’05 increase.
The district’s head count summary report shows enrollment has strained to top the 32,704 enrolled in spring ’05, adding only 725 students as of Jan. 23.
Dr. Larry Darlage, NE president, said although TCC has been growing at a much higher rate in the past, he believes the current increase in enrollment is less significant because of the economy and employment rates.
Darlage said the fluctuation in enrollment usually coincides with the economy.
“Usually when the unemployment rate goes down, enrollment goes down,” he said. “I believe the reason we aren’t growing as much is because of the economy.”
Darlage said enrollment at community colleges in general are either stabilizing or decreasing because of the economy, and TCC is standing strong.
Dr. Judith Carrier, SE president, agrees the economy has an impact on college enrollment.
When people have jobs, enrollment drops, but when people cannot find work, they enroll in classes to earn a degree, Carrier said.
Carrier said SE enrollment is up this semester and she is perplexed by SE Campus’ capacity.
“We are up a little over 700 students on SE Campus,” she said. “When we increase enrollment, we wonder, ‘Where are we putting all the students?’”
Carrier said the only additional space on SE Campus is created by 7 a.m. classes, Saturday classes and mini-mesters. However, SE Campus is planning expansion.
“We will be adding a new wing,” she said.
Carrier said the new wing is expected to encompass science, computer science and reading.
“We are working to see where our most critical needs are,” she said.
On NW Campus, Dr. Michael Saenz is pleased with the figures.
“NW Campus is pretty happy to have another enrollment to indicate continued growth,” the NW president said. “As more homes continue to be built, I think we will continue to see growth over the next two or three years.”
South Campus president Ernest Thomas said enrollment on South Campus has somewhat decreased since spring ’05. However, the trend is not uncommon for the TCC district.
“There is a tendency for enrollment across the district to decrease slightly from fall to spring,” he said.
Thomas said while he cannot predict future enrollment trends, South Campus is stable in its effort to offer quality education.
“We are committed, at South Campus, in a number of initiatives to support student access to higher learning,” he said.
Distance learning courses show the greatest increase in enrollment, adding approximately 1,000 students to last semester’s 9,000.
Kevin Eason, assistant director of distance learning, said the main reason distance learning enrollment has not grown even more is limited class space. However, 18 newly trained distant learning instructors have caused enrollment to increase.
About 90 percent of online courses were closed as of Jan. 18. Since distance learning enrollments are counted on the campus that provides the instructor, Eason said the 18 new instructors, with a maximum of 25 students in each class, have also increased enrollment on their home campuses.
