Northwest Arkansas Community College enrollment down 3.2 percent

BENTONVILLE -- A strong surge in the number of high school students taking concurrent classes wasn't enough to keep Northwest Arkansas Community College's overall enrollment from declining this semester.

The college reported an enrollment of 7,308 credit students Tuesday, a 3.2 percent decrease from this time a year ago. Tuesday was the 11th day of the spring semester, the day the state uses to compare enrollment numbers.

By The Numbers

NWACC Enrollment

About 55 percent of Northwest Arkansas Community College’s revenue comes from tuition and fees. Here are 11th-day enrollment numbers for spring and fall semesters since 2013.

• Spring 2013: 8,036

• Fall 2013: 8,102

• Spring 2014: 7,546

• Fall 2014: 8,164

• Spring 2015: 7,308

Source: Staff Report

The total credit hours being taken this spring is 65,140, a 4.7 percent decrease from last spring's 68,371, according to a college news release.

The news is better for the college than it was last spring, when the college reported drops of 6.1 percent and 6.9 percent from the previous spring in head count and credit hours, respectively.

The college's enrollment peaked at 8,528 in fall 2011. It went into a period of decline until the fall, when it rose 0.7 percent over the fall 2013 figure.

College administrators crafted this year's budget with the expectation of a 3 percent enrollment decline, "And we'll probably be right on target," said Debi Buckley, chief financial officer, during a board meeting last week.

Despite the dip, the number of high school students concurrently enrolled at the college increased from 572 last spring to 713 this spring, a gain of 24.6 percent.

The Early College Experience program began in 1995 with five high schools participating. It now has 19 high schools.

The college's online courses also showed increased demand. Enrollment in those courses is 2,960 this semester, up 3 percent from last spring, according to the college.

Total enrollment has fallen in recent years in part because of an improved economy, said Steven Hinds, the college's executive director of public relations and marketing.

"Traditionally, when there is an economic recession, more people enroll in two-year colleges to sharpen their job skills or to study for new careers," Hinds stated in the news release.

Nationally, enrollment in two-year public colleges dropped 3.5 percent in the fall from the previous fall, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The decline was an even steeper 4.7 percent among two-year colleges in Arkansas, according to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

The 11th-day enrollment numbers at this point are preliminary and unofficial. Institutions across the state submit their 11th-day reports to the Department of Higher Education in February.

NW News on 01/28/2015

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