News Releases
News from
Lane Community College, Eugene, Oregon
Public information officer: Joan Aschim, (541) 463-5591, aschimj@lanecc.edu
for release July 12, 2002
Summer enrollment up at LCC
EUGENE — Summer
credit enrollment is up at Lane Community College, providing the first
indication that last spring’s budget cuts have not deterred demand
for services. Second-week reports show a 10.9 percent increase in credit
FTE (full-time-equivalent) classes compared with the same time a year
ago, although total FTE, which includes noncredit classes, is down 2.2
percent.
Two factors may be driving enrollment. One is the economy. “When
the economy’s slow, credit enrollment goes up at community colleges,”
says President Mary Spilde. “People want to upgrade their job skills,
or train or retrain for a new career. At the same time, people have less
discretionary income, so noncredit enrollment goes down.”
The other factor is new flexibility to add classes on demand. For example, some instructional areas are testing a tuition-based model for adding class sections. Under this model, division chairs monitor daily enrollment reports and as soon as demand develops, they add extra classes. Tuition revenue generated by the demand covers the expenses of the added classes. Typically, tuition revenue goes into the college general fund before being allocated back out for extra sections or annual budgeting. The tuition-based model offers real-time response to student demand.
Some decrease in total FTE was expected due to the elimination of seven programs and the closure of outreach campuses during summer. Tuition isn’t thought to be a factor here because of the increase in credit enrollment.
“I think this tells us that the community still knows that Lane offers an excellent balance of professional-technical and transfer education,” says Spilde.
The next enrollment benchmark will be fall term 2002; classes begin September 23.
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