Enrollment numbers are expected to hold steady for Allen Community College for the 2013-2014 school year, and Vice President of Student Affairs Cynthia Jacobson thinks that is right where the college needs to be.
“We are on track to be where we were last year,” Jacobson said of enrollment. She and her staff have been tracking student numbers throughout the summer.
Fall 2012 enrollment for both the Burlingame and Iola campuses was 2,963 — 608 in Iola and 813 in Burlingame. Over half (1,661) of the ACC students took at least one online course, and of those students, 1,021 students took solely online courses. There are also 521 outreach students taking high school and ACC courses concurrently.
Jacobson said the numbers are looking similar across the board for all courses, and no major changes are expected. This comes partly due to changes in state funding. Jacobson said there isn’t encouragement to increase enrollment.
“There’s really not an incentive in the state to bring in more students,” she said.
In 2008, the state moved to block-grant funding for community colleges, instead of providing funding for the amount of students enrolled. The number does not improve with more numbers. Instead, Jacobson said the college was working to improve and strengthen the programs it already had between the two campuses.
“It’s not a bad thing,” she said.
She said the online program, based on recent trends, will most likely continue to grow. Currently, ACC is over-capacity in its dormitories — the college already has tripled students in some rooms and 11 students are scheduled to live America’s Best Value Inn. But, Jacobson said the numbers typically drop by the beginning of the school year.
Classes begin Aug. 19, the last day to add or drop a course is Sept. 1.
Enrollment steady for ACC’s fall
