Regardless of major school enrollment is decreasing

Allison Cripe
MesaCC Legend

Choosing a major is tough. Do you make decisions based on job availability?  Do you decide based on what you want to do?  Do you decide on multiple degrees to have some balance?  There’s plenty of options that must be narrowed down. With our world becoming immersed in technology, Computer Sciences is a degree that’s argued as a more popular choice even for students who love the arts.  Business seems a likely option for high enrollment as there’s a large number of jobs that require business degrees.

When it comes to English and Fine Arts, there’s plenty of talk about why people would not sign up for these majors. There is too much talk about low options for jobs when it comes to the Arts. Even people in the Arts have to know about business, don’t they?  Wouldn’t it be that the enrollment numbers have risen then for Computer Sciences and decreased for Fine Arts? The reality is that all majors are steadily declining as numbers of enrollments just haven’t gone up.

As revealed in the numbers offered from MCC’s Institution of Effectiveness and graphs on Mesa Community College’s site which can be found on the Institution for Effectiveness. Numbers remain relatively high for Fine Arts and much higher for Business degrees, but, there haven’t been many new students signing up for Community College. Numbers are for the most part, with little incline all around.

Graphic Design is a good crossover degree regarding arts and technology. It is also a degree that has its numbers on the rise as a major choice. However, Web Design has declined in numbers as a major. Fine Arts took a large rise since last year. While it declined in 2017, it inclined again in 2018 from 99 to 168.  Small business has declined, however, Business has gone up 300 people since last year.  This is almost two times larger than the students who have signed up for a major in Fine Arts. Choosing a major can be difficult. Everyone has their opinion on what degree will get you a job and what degree will disappoint you.

The Arts are argued as not being financially stable with many high salary numbers being in Computer jobs. As focus continues to be on Silicon Valley and developments in tech, more attention is put on the degrees that will get you to those techie 100k salaries. All of these assumptions, however, prove to be false when assuming what degree people will choose. The favor seems to be no community college at all.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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