Community college enrollment growth slowing down

Be it the affordability, improved reputations or the promise of a second career, an unprecedented number of students flooded community college registration offices last year at the height of the economic downturn.

While the influx continues - enrollment still is hitting record numbers across the state - the growth appears to be slowing.

Take McHenry County College, where the number of credit-seeking students jumped 20.1 percent to 6,456 from fall 2008 to fall 2009. Enrollment climbed to an all-time high this semester at 6,793, but that's only a 5.2 percent increase from a year ago.

Elgin Community College saw near identical changes in enrollment growth. And the trend can be found even in a built-out district like Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, where fall enrollment rose 7.6 percent last school year and 1.4 percent this year.

Community colleges use enrollment figures based on the 10th day of class. They don't include noncredit students such as those taking continuing education classes or English as a Second Language.

"We won't know exactly what's going on until we actually delve into the data a bit more, but part of what we're thinking is there's a capacity issue," Oakton Director of Student Recruitment and Outreach Michele Brown said. "Last year, we heard from the community that the economy brought them here, and now classes are being fully utilized."

Brown said in many cases, students are turning to Oakton to start a second career in a health-related field. But that requires signing up for science labs, which have strict caps on class size.

The courses fill up within a day or two of registration, she said, adding that she expects labs to be expanded and renovated as part of the college's master plan.

Another factor contributing to the slowed growth could be tuition rates, which continue to inch toward the triple-digit mark. Citing a desire to ease the economic burden on students, the board of trustees at College of Lake County and Harper College in Palatine implemented tuition freezes for the 2009-10 school year.

Those freezes were lifted for 2010-11 and tuition jumped by $9 and $8.50 per credit hour, respectively. Both schools are seeing more modest enrollment increases than last year.

Tuition also increased at higher percentage rates for the 2010-11 school year compared to a year ago at College of DuPage, Oakton and Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove.

Despite the slowing growth trend, enrollment at most suburban community colleges is up significantly over the past five years.

At ECC, where tuition has held steady at $91 per credit hour for the last four years, enrollment rose 21.3 percent to 12,219 credit-seeking students in fall 2010 compared to fall 2006.

Associate Dean of Enrollment Management Mary Perkins said that while students cited the economy as a reason for coming to ECC the last couple years, this semester she's hearing factors such as quality education, reputation and affordability.

"Even five years ago there was a perception that if something costs less, it's of lesser quality," Perkins said. "Now, there's much more willingness to consider the community college as a first choice and not a backup."

ECC spokeswoman Heidi Healy pointed to a 2009 performance report that shows ECC graduates who transferred to four-year institutions outperformed students who started at those schools. ECC alumni boasted a 3.08 average grade point average compared to a 2.91 GPA for the native students, she said.

Oakton's Brown agreed the stigma has changed.

"It used to be embarrassing to tell your friends you were going to a community college, and now it's seen as a smart move because of the money saved and the realization they can take the same quality classes before transferring," Brown said.

Tony Miksa, vice president of academic and student affairs at MCC, said the drop-off in enrollment growth there is due to both a slowly improving economy and the elimination of the college's Promise Program scholarships.

"We find that students get here and see that we're a high quality institution that provides the same opportunities, organizations and engagement as a four-year institution," Miksa said.