There was a time, not long after it first opened in 1990, that enrollment at Allen Community College’s outreach facility in Burlingame dwarfed even the numbers on the Iola campus.
Situated in Osage County, the center’s proximity to Topeka offered urban students a prime opportunity for an affordable college education, and many took advantage.
But as educational trends have changed — particularly the explosive growth in online and virtual instruction — enrollment at the Burlingame campus has steadily dropped over the past decade or longer, creating what college administrators describe as “unsustainable operating losses.”
Now, with fewer than 90 students attending classes on the Burlingame campus this fall, Allen trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to close the outreach facility at the end of the school year.
“Good stewardship of taxpayers’ resources requires that action be taken, no matter how difficult,” college trustees and the President’s Council announced in a joint letter to Allen staffers.
“When we looked at the enrollment numbers and the operating costs, and the longitudinal data on tuition and fees, it really brought everything into focus,” Allen President Bruce Moses told the Register. “I don’t think the board as a whole had seen all of the data at one time.”
The closure doesn’t mean Allen plans to relieve itself of working with Burlingame students, Moses quickly added.
“We’re not losing any students,” he said. “In fact, I think we’re going to gain numbers.”
Allen will continue to offer dual credit courses for high-schoolers in the Burlingame school district.
“There’s a strong potential for us to use classrooms in the high school for some courses,” Moses said.
Despite the closure, Moses expects enrollment in Osage County and areas nearer Topeka to grow. “That’s where data indicates growth of this institution will come from, the Topeka area.
Roberta Nickel, Allen’s interim vice president for finance and operations, pointed to this fall’s enrollment figures as evidence.
Allen has 626 online students from Shawnee County, of which 541 are from Topeka.
In fact, Allen teaches more students at the Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers (95) than at Burlingame (90). TCALC is an innovative high school program in which various colleges work in league with businesses to provide instruction in a variety of science, technology, engineering and math disciplines.
Moses said he has been speaking extensively with Burlingame USD 454. Allen leases its Burlingame facility from the school district. The building is a part of the Burlingame High School complex.
Moses said he assured USD 454 officials that Allen will continue to provide dual credit instruction for USD 454 students, as it has in the past
