College shows gains

They may be down, but they're still up.

Central Lakes College's enrollment jumped by 7-1/2 percent this fall after experiencing double-digit increases for the previous two years, school officials said Wednesday.

But CLC officials say this is still good news.

"I think it's very good news when taken into context," said Jeff Wig, CLC dean of enrollment and student services. "Many of our programs really couldn't grow. Our technical programs are about 50 percent of the college and in many of those programs they're maxed out. This is still a pretty good outcome. It was about as much as we could grow when most of half the college didn't have the room to grow."

At the same time, officials from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system reported Wednesday the largest overall gain in students since the system began.

MnSCU's 32 colleges and universities, including CLC, now have 198,792 students, or 12,641 more students than last fall, a nearly 7 percent increase. Previously, the largest increase in the fall headcount, taken on the 30th day of fall semester, reported a 9,023-student increase in 1999. This is the fourth consecutive year that the system's fall enrollment has set a record high, officials said.

"We know the economy was a major factor driving this enrollment boom," MnSCU Chancellor James H. McCormick said in a news release. "This unprecedented growth comes at a time when budgets have been cut at the state colleges and universities so faculty and staff are working harder than ever to serve students. We especially welcome the opportunity to serve displaced workers seeking to retool and upgrade their knowledge and skills."

Wig said as of this fall CLC has 4,010 students, or 2,313 full-time students and 1,697 part-time students, up from 7-1/2 percent from last year. When looking at the number of credits taken, CLC is up 9 percent from last year, said Wig. He said there are still programs, such as College in the Schools and business management programs, that are still registering students so he suspects that number will end up around 10 percent.

Last year the college, with campuses in Brainerd and Staples, had a 14.2 percent enrollment increase with a 13 percent increase in 2007.

Wig said while in many of the college's technical programs enrollment is at 90 percent or above capacity, these are one- and two-year programs that quickly fill and graduate students, allowing for more students to enroll each year. The college also has added more programs and courses to accommodate students.

A new one-year evening welding program, taught at the Staples campus by Mike Reeser, a former Brainerd High School teacher, quickly filled to capacity this year, said Wig. He said the college's medical program has also expanded, with practical nursing and registered nursing programs now also taught at the Staples campus, as well as the Brainerd campus, doubling the number of students in the programs.

Wig said the largest increase at CLC was in students who are 25 to 55. When comparing this fall to the fall of 2006, there has been a 60.8 percent increase in students 25-55, or an increase of 242 students. Last year this age group also grew by 170 new students, he said.

CLC also has had an increase in students attending classes through the Colleges in the Schools program, which allows high school students from 22 area schools to attend college courses through CLC in their own high schools taught by high school teachers who met college teaching credentials. The teachers also have CLC faculty who collaborate with them. The courses allow high school students to earn college credit in their own schools. The number of classes offered at each school varies but Aitkin High School offers eight courses this fall while Brainerd High School offers 17 different fall courses, said Wig.

The program started two years ago. Wig said this enrollment has accounted for about half of the college's enrollment growth. Overall, enrollment of high school students in college courses within the MnSCU system grew by 4.8 percent. Under Minnesota law, high school students may take courses tuition-free at the state's public colleges and universities.

The number of students within the MnSCU system taking online courses increased by 21.7 percent.

"It's been tremendous to see the interest in education," said Wig. "That's just very gratifying. But what people need to keep in mind is that we're able to hire new faculty as we add new classes because the tuition pays for the cost of the classes but we're actually down in terms of other staff. We had layoffs last year because of budget cuts and that becomes more challenging. We're working hard and innovating so we can serve this great number of students with a smaller staff than what we had three years ago in many of our departments."

Wig said by far the largest number of students at CLC are from Brainerd and the surrounding communities. While this fall's figures aren't completed yet, he said last year the college had about 3,700 students, 3,000 of them were from the seven-county area.

CLC's full-year-equivalent enrollment is 3,020 students, a 6 percent increase from last year. Full-year-equivalent enrollment within the MnSCU system increased by 5-1/2 percent. Full-year-equivalent is calculated by adding the credits taken by all students and dividing by the number of credits considered to be a full-time course load, or 30 credits per year for undergraduates and 20 credits for graduate students.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.