Enrollment at Glendale Community College drops by more than 2%

Full-time student enrollment at Glendale Community College has dropped by 2.3% from the previous school year, putting it at risk of losing state funding if the trend continues, according to a recent report.

The loss works out to the equivalent of 346 full-time students, reflecting the current spring semester’s enrollment data.

While the numbers frustrate school officials, they’re not baffling. A nationwide enrollment downtrend has plagued community colleges for the past few years, according to reports from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Student Clearinghouse.

State funding is based on enrollment, so “that number is important,” said Drew Sugars, the college’s director of communications and community relations. Each full-time student brings in about $5,150 from the state.

The decline doesn’t lead to an automatic loss in funding, Sugars said. The state now considers the college to be in a “stabilization” phase. It has one to three years to show increased enrollment before cuts kick in.

The school’s enrollment decreased two years ago by the equivalent of 772 full-time students. It then increased by 556 full-time students the following year. Even though it didn’t fully rebound from the loss, it avoided funding cuts by showing positive gains, Sugars said.

According to the college’s enrollment analysis and data, 2009-10 was the last so-called “peak” enrollment year.

For funding purposes, the number of full-time students is calculated based on how many cumulative hours all students attend classes, representing a combination of full-time and part-time students.

When a college loses students and the money they bring in, “you still have to pay for everything that makes that college [run],” Sugars said, pointing out that a classroom with a few less students still commands the same costs, including the instructor’s salary and associated utilities.

“That’s where things become a challenge,” Sugars said.

The school receives about $78 million to $80 million annually from the state.

Additional revenue comes from out-of-state and international students, who pay more for tuition relative to in-state students. The $215 per unit they pay goes directly to the school, according to Sugars.

Last month, the board of trustees decided to not increase the nonresidential fee in order to hopefully draw more out-of-state and international students to the college.

School officials point to two primary reasons for the enrollment dip, both based on outside forces — an improved economy and a decrease in high school students overall.

The idea is that when jobs are plentiful, as they have been for the past few years, would-be students can get by without specialized degrees or certificates, according to Armine Hacopian, president of the college’s board of trustees.

When the economy suffers, students are more likely to go back to school to improve their marketability.

Ann Ransford, the board’s vice president, underscored the effect of changing demographics, including a smaller pool of high school graduates.

“We’ve lost that whole bubble of kids from the baby boomers,” Ransford said.

One step the college has taken to address the downtrend was to hire Sugars, according to Hacopian. Sugars was brought on about seven months ago.

“Having a new communications and community relations director is really focusing on our goals, and that’s why we created this new position,” Hacopian said.

The college has gone a decade without a dedicated communications director, Sugars said.

Another strategy to address the problem has been to add “relevant” classes, Hacopian said.

Trustees voted unanimously last week to approve 18 new classes and 11 new programs.

New offerings that will be rolled out in the coming months include classes on gender and sexuality and the politics of race in the United States as well as a degree in Armenian language.

Community colleges have unique challenges, in that more of the students work and have families compared to four-year colleges and universities, making it more difficult for them to take on full course loads or see a program through, Hacopian said.

Sugars called the population “high risk” and more prone to dropping out, relative to their four-year counterparts.

“It takes everyone working to be able to maintain and to keep students on our campuses,” Hacopian said. “It’s not an easy task and there’s no straightforward answer.”

While Sugars is working on marketing strategies to entice new students into the fold, he said he’s also looking into how to support the school’s existing students so that they see their programs through and meet their goals.

“We’d rather put energy into taking care of the students we have, not preparing to have less students,” he said.

Lila Seidman is a freelance writer for Times Community News.