Sharp enrollment decline worries MCC
Nick Kosmider
Some MCC instructors spent much of their time during the last week of winter break on the phone.No, they weren’t ordering classroom tools, instead they were dialing students to tell them classes they signed up for were being dropped due to low enrollment figures.
As of Jan. 7, MCC projected sharp decline in enrollment for the spring 2008 semester.
MCC had a headcount on Jan. 7 of 17,570 compared to 21, 384 at this time last spring. This marks a drop of 17.8 percent over last spring semester.
One of the biggest areas of decline has been enrollment in night classes. Enrollment in night classes at MCC is down over 25 percent from last semester.
This is a big problem for those who have signed up for night classes as many of them are being cancelled due to lack of enrollment.
Because of this, many students who only have the time to take classes at night are forced to wait until the next semester if they are unable to find an alternate class that fits into their schedule.
Enrollment this semester is also down at MCC’s Red Mountain campus.
A headcount taken there showed enrollment to be down close to 15 percent and thier night enrollment had fallen 20 percent as of Jan 7.
The lack of students has not be limited to a small number of departments.
From the English to art departments, almost every instructor was facing a lack of students.
One major reason for the lack of enrollment can be attributed to the implementation of Proposition 300 requiring all students to provide proof of U.S. citizenship in order to recieve in-state tuition.
Some teachers are doing what they can to get enrollment up.
Several ceramics teachers were on hand Jan. 10, talking about ceramics courses.
“We want to let students know what is available and build some excitement for the program by doing something unusual,” said Linda Speranza, a longtime member of MCC’s ceramic faculty.
“This is probably the last thing they would expect as they stand in line,” Speranza added.
