Enrollment Boom: tenth story

PARKER: Enterprise Story
Session 31: December 9, 2009
Increased Enrollment During Recession

“Community colleges normally have increases during a recession,” Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) student Tawana Grimes said. And she may be right; enrollment at ARCC is up by 11.6 percent this year.

Because of the increase, both students and faculty are attributing it mainly to the rate of unemployment and low tuition rates. “The numbers are up,” Carole Guffey of the financial aid office at ARCC said, “certainly unemployment and the workforce award played a big part in that.”

Director of Institutional Research at ARCC, Katie Vaccari, said that during a bad economy, enrollment at 2-year colleges is generally higher. “We also have the lowest tuition of any of the 2-year institutions in the state, so I think that helped,” Vaccari said.

But it’s not just ARCC that has experienced an enrollment boom in Minnesota. According to a press release issued by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) public affairs office, the entire Minnesota system of colleges and universities have experienced a near seven percent student increase.

Public affairs contact Melinda Voss said, “Enrollment increases were particularly strong at the system’s 25 community and technical colleges. Thirteen colleges had increases greater than 10 percent.” ARCC was among one of the colleges that had an increase greater than 10 percent.

The school with the highest increase was Pine Technical College in Pine City, Minn., with an increase of 19.6 percent.

Forty-four students were polled at ARCC about why they believe that there has been such a high enrollment increase. The high rate of unemployment was the most common answer, at 63.6 percent. Tuition wasn’t far behind at 52.3 percent

Several students said they decided to enroll at ARCC because of the Workforce Training Program (WTP), a program implemented to assist students who are facing unemployment by offering them 50 percent off of tuition. Vaccari said that as of the thirtieth day of the fall semester 2009, there were 425 participants in the WTP. That is about 4.5 percent of the student body population, which was at an all-time high of 9,210 for fall semester.

Shannon Martinez is a student who is using the benefits of the WTP to further her education. Martinez was laid off from her job, and said that the WTP was a factor in choosing ARCC. She also said that the low tuition rates at ARCC were incentive to attend.

Amy Anderson chose to attend ARCC because of the tuition rates and the convenient location. Anderson is also using the WTP to help pay for tuition. Anderson said that enrollment has increased for a variety of reasons, including rate of unemployment, low tuition rates, transfer options, and flexibility of classes. “People are investing in themselves in order to become more marketable to potential employers,” Anderson said, “I also think that the Bachelor Degree programs that are now being offered at ARCC will drive student enrollments even higher.”

The largest increases of students at ARCC are those over the age of 25. There was a 52.6 percent increase within this demographic. Student Kris Piotrowski thinks this pertains to people going back to school because of unemployment. “People are going back to school for many different reasons,” Piotrowski said, “I know a couple of my friends are going back because they got laid off and tuition is half off if you are unemployed. Also, they are going for a different degree where they can be more marketable.”

However, according to Time Magazine, several private colleges are facing budget cuts and decreased student enrollment because of the current economy. Author of the article, Laura Fitzpatrick, said that finding the funds to meet the demands of students seeking financial aid this year is a “tall order.” Fitzpatrick said several of the private universities were worried because an average of 60 percent of their operation costs come from tuition, and if they weren’t able to meet their incoming freshman quota, it could cause a “painful budget crunch.”

Student Courtney Smith said she believes some colleges are negatively affected because of the recession, such as private schools, “But others, such as public schools, are most likely not suffering as much,” Smith said.

Smith is right. According to Fitzpatrick, most community colleges and state universities are seeing an increase in student applications. In comparison to the private schools, Fitzpatrick said the, “small sticker price is a big draw.”

In the press release for MnSCU, the results are comparative. Of the 31 community and technical colleges in Minnesota, the average enrollment increase was 8.7 percent, while the average increase enrollment for the seven state universities was 3.3 percent.

The tuition rates at ARCC are also a dominant factor in student increase. Over 50 percent of the students surveyed said tuition was a factor in choosing ARCC, and 23 percent were Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) students. Former ARCC student Alissa Abeler said, “I'm at a private college and I know that more people are choosing community and state colleges because of the difference in tuition fees.”

Jaime Boretski, who works in the admissions department at ARCC, said, “ARCC has the lowest tuition in the state of Minnesota. The college has made a deliberate effort to keep tuition low, to provide access to college to our surrounding communities.”

Boretski said she believes that because of the current economy, it’s only helped enrollment at ARCC. “With the country’s current economic state, many are unemployed or underemployed and are taking advantage of our low tuition rates,” Boretski said, “they are returning to college to train for a new career or to finish up a degree that they may have started many years ago.”

Former Anoka-Ramsey student, Whitney Butz, said, “It isn't a very expensive school, so it has become more attractive to potential students to further their education at ARCC instead of a much more expensive four-year institution.” Butz went on to transfer to University of North Dakota, Fargo, and her parents pay her tuition.

Students are turning towards not only colleges with low-tuition rates, but schools willing to award financial aid.

According to the poll of 44 students at ARCC, an equal 22.7 percent of students pay for tuition with grants, are PSEO, or pay for it on their own, and 11.4 percent use scholarships they’ve received. Vaccari said that 64 percent of students were awarded some form of financial aid for fall semester at ARCC, this is an increase of four percent from fall semester 2007.

Students and faculty alike say that colleges are affected by the recession. Whether they think the affect is negative or positive varies by the individual. Some faculty members are worried because of the state facing budget cuts.

“Increased enrollment should benefit the school financially,” Boretski, “but all public colleges are also faced with a state budget deficit which can result in the college receiving less funding from the state to support college operations.”

But most students believe that the recession is having a positive effect on state universities and community colleges.

“In my opinion, colleges are not suffering,” student Eric Groebner said, “I don't feel they have lowered tuition at a comparable rate to the current economic situation. They still receive tuition fees from those who can pay, and the financial aid recipients' tuition is likely subsidized by the government and taxpayers.”

Several other students agreed that colleges aren’t suffering, 72.7 percent of the 44 students polled said that the recession has had an effect on college tuition and enrollment, however over half of that percentage said it is a positive effect.

One student said that the schools are getting a boost because more people are getting retrained, and another said that they think the recession is motivating people to go back to school.

According to Fitzpatrick, private colleges such as Skidmore, in Syracuse, N.Y., are facing potential budget cuts and are negatively affected by the recession. But according to Voss and Fitzpatrick, community colleges have the highest increase in enrollment.

What are the two leading factors for this? Student Rachel Hiel, student at ARCC, said that student enrollment rates have gone up because, “the unemployed are offered 50 percent off tuition, and also because people are trying to get a degree to get a job more easily.” And Boretski agreed, ARCC has the lowest tuition rates in Minn., and the unemployed are taking full advantage of that.