Numbers put COD reputation in perspective

Notwithstanding recent controversies caused by actions at both the College of DuPage president and board level, the public has been led to believe that COD is the "premier," "world class," and possibly, the "best" community college in the nation.

COD Foundation President Susan Lang Berry re-cently described COD, as "the envy of the region." But, is that really so?

How does COD compare to other community colleges in the nation? According to "StateUniversity.com," COD is not ranked in the "Top 500 Community Colleges." Three local peer community colleges rank ahead of, and relative to COD: Oakton (#174), Elgin (#182), and Harper (#410).

CNNMoney's rankings of 786 community colleges based upon a "Success" rating system has COD at #167, but lower than both Oakton (#101) and Harper (#155), and also below 16 other non-peer Illinois community colleges.

How do COD's total annual tuition and related costs compare to local peer community col-leges? According to collegetuitioncompare.com for 2014, COD was the highest at $12,034. Second highest was Harper ($10,222), or $1,812 less. Of all seven peer community colleges, College of Lake County was the lowest ($8,820), while the average annual cost was $10,033, $2,001 less than COD.

Is COD's great financial condition unique? All but one of the seven local peer community col-leges surveyed have the same Moody's "Aaa" credit rating. Triton is nearly ranked the same. All seven community colleges are recipients of the GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. COD, Elgin, Harper, Lake County and Oakton are all recipients of the GFOA "Distinguished Budget Presentation Award."

Are COD's enrollment numbers remarkably amongst the best, and the fastest growing in the nation, outside of California? First, one must assume the data used is accurate. That assumption about COD's data has been recently challenged. However, based upon annual enrollment data from the "Illinois Community College Board," the following comparisons with-in Illinois were made:

• Over the past five years, COD's "Credit Headcount" enrollments were down 1.3 percent, the best compared to down 5.8 percent state-wide.

• Enrollment for COD over the past year was unchanged. Illinois enrollments were down 4.6 percent. However, four Illinois community colleges did better than COD: Rend Lake (+4.9 percent), Danville (+3.8 percent), Richland (+0.9 percent) and Lake Land (+0.2 percent).

• Over the past five years, COD's full time equivalent enrollments were up 4.1 percent versus down 2.2 percent for all Illinois community colleges. The one-year change for COD was up 1.8 percent, and down 4.5 percent state-wide. COD was the best for both time frames.

Community College Week released the 2014 rankings of the fastest growing community colleges in the nation on December 19, 2014. Their rankings are calculated by comparing the percent change of Fall 2013 head count enrollment to Fall 2012 head count enrollment. They show COD with a head count change of 9.4 percent. However, 68 community colleges are ranked ahead of COD with head count changes greater than 9.4 percent, based upon their calculation methodology. Twelve are in the state of California.

At the March Board meeting, COD officially hired a high-profile public relations firm at an estimated cost up to $250,000 to address the "disinformation" about COD. However, then-board Chair Erin Birt was unwilling or unable to provide the public any examples of "disin-formation" at the same Board meeting, as well as at the subsequent April board meeting. In addition, COD already has a full-time public relations office under the Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

Hopefully, the information presented here will help all COD stakeholders to impartially evaluate COD on an objective comparative basis.

Roger J. Kempa, a retired community college business administrator and former treasurer of the Morton Community College District, was a candidate for the COD board of trustees in April.