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Community Colleges Facing Student Crunch

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

With public universities cutting enrollment, community college leaders warn that their classrooms will reach capacity sooner.

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By ADAM EMERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 26, 2008

TAMPA - Now that the state's universities have decided to cut enrollment to offset a whopping budget shortfall, community colleges will have to figure out how to absorb even more students while cutting millions of dollars.

The budget cuts afflicting four-year schools are hitting the two-year schools just as hard - if not harder. Community colleges, which enroll most of Florida's undergraduate students, rely more on state money than do universities, and the aid they get from Tallahassee is wildly unpredictable.

How Hillsborough Community College has dealt with those challenges can be seen in Linda Tarrago's accounting class. In previous years, Tarrago capped her class at 28 students, but she now enrolls up to 39 because of increased demand. And her class runs twice as fast - eight weeks instead of 16, with sessions running twice as long so the college can squeeze two semesters of courses in the space of one.

"We're seeing a lot of students," Tarrago said. "Our projector bulbs are blowing earlier than they normally did. When they're running full time, they're going to blow quicker."

Things will only get busier, and there will be less money. Recently, the state's 11 public universities decided to admit fewer students for next fall because they plan on eliminating faculty jobs to help balance their budgets.

That decision will send more students to community colleges.

Community college leaders say that won't jeopardize their open-door policies and create higher standards for entry as it has at the state's universities. They warn, however, that their classrooms will reach capacity sooner.

When that happens, students registering later may find they will have to defer some classes another semester.

Last fall, HCC cut about $1.4million from a pot of money that pays for salaries and school programs that need funding every year.

While the college hasn't laid off employees yet, another significant cut will surely eliminate jobs, said Bob Chunn, president of HCC's Dale Mabry campus. Administrators say they will try to protect faculty positions. They will find out how much they'll need to cut as lawmakers meet in the coming weeks.

"A reduction in jobs is in nobody's interest," Chunn said.

Across the state, higher education leaders are preparing for hard times as state economists continue to warn of falling tax revenue. The University of South Florida, for instance, has planned to cut more than $52 million from its budget, and has announced it will freeze the size of its freshman class to keep class sizes from enlarging.

All of that has an effect on community college enrollment.

Weak Job Market Boosts Enrollment

Community colleges already have been in demand. HCC's student body grew by 5 percent last fall. Much of that growth came from students seeking to sharpen their skills in Florida's souring economy.

"When the employment market is the weakest, that's the time you need the most money," said Carl Kuttler, president of St. Petersburg College, which also saw a 5 percent enrollment increase last fall but had to cut about $2 million from its budget.

In addition, the state two years ago provided greater incentive to attend a community college by offering free tuition and fees to students who receive the less selective of the two primary Bright Futures scholarships. The scholarship, called the Medallion award, now covers all of a community college student's tuition and fees and covers 75 percent of costs at a state university.

Lawmakers thought the move would relieve crowding in university classrooms.

It worked. The number of students who enrolled at HCC with the Medallion award increased 35 percent over the past two years, to about 1,500 students.

One of those students was Aurora Clegg, 19, who turned down an offer at USF. If Clegg attended the university, she figured she'd have to work part time. With a Medallion award at HCC, she can focus on school, she said.

"At a university, you're a number," Clegg said. "At a community college, you're a name. That was a very big attraction for me."

Clegg was accepted to USF. But more students seeking entry to the university will have a harder time, leaving hundreds to consider community college.

HCC already has increased its online course offerings by 15 percent to accommodate the student influx. It also added more afternoon class sections, even though they had been less popular with working students who wanted either early morning or evening classes. Every one of them filled up this year.

'The Unknown Factor'

Community colleges have always found it hard to predict their needs. They receive money from the state based on the previous year's enrollment, so money comes up short when enrollment spikes.

By comparison, state universities receive funding based on their projected enrollment.

"It's the unknown factor," Kuttler said. "We have a lot of rainy-day funds; the issue is, do you use all of them up in one year."

Also unknown is what universities will do in the coming weeks.

University system Chancellor Mark Rosenberg said universities may have to revise agreements that have guaranteed community college students a spot at a university after two successful years in school.

Universities for years have offered admission to students on the hopes the Legislature would provide the necessary funding, only to come up short financially, Rosenberg said.

Bill Edmonds, spokesman for the state university system, said Rosenberg hasn't proposed any changes yet.

Last week, however, USF leaders announced that they're limiting the number of transfer students over the next three years. They won't accept any more students trying to transfer in as freshman and sophomores next fall, and they will set a higher academic standard on those seeking admission as juniors and seniors.

That means that even students with an associate's degree may be refused entry to USF, a fact Chunn said would "discourage students."

"It would have an impact on them realizing their educational destiny," he said.

Regardless of what's unknown, though, community colleges must plan to cut deeper, said Ed Cisek, vice chancellor for financial policy in the state's community college division.

"It's a really tough dilemma we're in," Cisek said. "Anybody who's not planning on cuts is taking the ostrich approach."

COMMUNITY COLLEGE MATH

$1.4 million How much Hillsborough Community College cut last fall from recurring expenses such as salaries and programs

5 percent Growth of HCC's student body from last year

35 percent Increase over two years in the number of HCC students getting full tuition paid for through the Bright Futures Medallion scholarship

847,486 Statewide community college enrollment this year, a 6 percent increase from last year

COMMUNITY COLLEGE MATH

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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