FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR, CGCC AND HVCC ENROLLMENT SETS NEW RECORD

Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News

09-02-10 - Area residents continue to seek higher learning at a record pace.

For the second consecutive fall, enrollment in Columbia-Greene and Hudson Valley community colleges has set a new record, college officials told ccSCOOP this week.

While Columbia-Greene doesn’t start its fall semester until September 7, Director of Communications Allen Kovler said applications and acceptance letters for the fall semester are ahead of last year’s record pace by “one- to two-percent.”

Kovler said final numbers won’t be available for about three weeks, but the enrollment is outpacing the record enrollment of 2,048 students reached last fall. That number represented a 12-13 percent increase over the past 2008 fall semester.

Meanwhile, at Hudson Valley Community College where classes began August 30, there is also a record number of students attending this fall, with a two percent increase in students registered for and attending classes, said Eric Bryant, college spokesman. The college has 11,351 people currently enrolled full time for the fall. Last year, the college set its previous record when it realized a 12 percent increase in enrollment.

Officials said the economy is the major driving force behind the surge in enrollment.

“Obviously, it’s the economy,” Kovler said. “The last two years have seen a down economy and an increase in enrollment at community colleges across the country.”

The increase is not only reflective of traditional students, but those who are returning to college after being laid-off.

Bryant added that the college is also benefitting from students who are looking for an economical start at a two-year college “before moving up to a four year college.”

The continued surge in enrollment is a double-edged sword for local counties.

While the county officials undoubtedly want an educated populace, it comes at a cost - especially in a time when the state is increasingly shifting the cost of education to counties.

A $415 cut in base aid per full-time-equivalent student is projected to cost Columbia-Greene community College $600,000 in lost revenue this year, but may be larger depending on the final student enrollment. That could mean more funds coming from the college’s reserve accounts this year and a greater reliance on Columbia and Greene county taxpayers next year.

While the state is supposed to be funding approximately 40 percent of the cost of community colleges under a formula previously approved by the state, this year’s reduction in state aid means the state’s contribution is about 23 percent of the college’s $15.8 million budget, President Jim Campion previously told ccSCOOP. That leaves a 4 percent increase in tuition and a combined nearly $100,000 increase in contributions from the two counties to make up the difference in the budget.

This year, Columbia County is expected to pay the college $2,673,667 through a formula that is based on student enrollment.