camden county college: County colleges squeezed

After he lost his full scholarship at Temple University because of a dip in grades, 19-year-old Terrence John Stinson signed up for classes at Montgomery County Community College this spring.

"I can do a whole semester for about $1,000 and save a lot of money," said Stinson, of Norristown. His savings: about $11,000 per semester.

Around the region and the country, community colleges are reporting unusual jumps in spring enrollment due to students like Stinson, displaced workers, and first-time students looking to save money.

A boon for community colleges?

Not exactly.

These institutions also are facing cuts in funding from their cash-strapped communities and state governments, and fear money will be even tighter in coming months. That conundrum - serving more students with less money - has community college officials predicting higher tuition, larger classes, enrollment caps in some programs, loss of positions and other belt-tightening.

Community colleges are funded by their state, their county or their local school districts, and tuition.

"It's absolutely a squeeze that we are all feeling," said Jim Linksz, president of Bucks County Community College, which has had a 10.6 percent increase in spring enrollment while getting less than a 1 percent increase in 2009 county funding.

"All of us are looking at ways to contain costs so we can reallocate dollars toward instruction," said Karen Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College, where enrollment is 11,594, up from 10,941.

Her school took a $1 million midyear budget cut from the county while enrollment rose 6 percent over last spring - double what it had anticipated.

"It's a familiar refrain," said Norma Kent, vice president of communications at the American Association of Community Colleges. "That's the situation most of our colleges are in."

While community colleges in the Philadelphia area have reported spring enrollment increases ranging from 2 percent to more than 10 percent, schools elsewhere in the country are seeing even bigger jumps, Kent said.

"Historically, when the economy is not doing well we do get an uptick in enrollment, but we've never encountered a situation as extreme as this one," she said.

The growth follows an average increase in the fall of 8 to 10 percent, Kent said.

Stinson, an international-business major, plans to go to Montgomery County Community College for about a year, earn as many transferrable credits as he can, and bring up his grades. He's working 38 to 45 hours a week to save money. Eventually, he hopes to return to Temple on his academic scholarship.

With spring enrollments still being tallied, area community colleges had no concrete numbers on how many of the new students were transferring from four-year schools. But anecdotally, they've seen a bump.

"During our late-registration activity on Jan. 7, the numbers of students who had come to us from other schools was much higher than I've seen in a number of years," said Fran Cubberley, vice president for enrollment management at Delaware County Community College.

Still, most of the 11 four-year colleges in the region that responded to questions reported no significant drop in students for the spring.

Widener University always has students who are not able to return for financial reasons, "but we're not seeing a significant increase in that from the fall to the spring," said Larry Lesick, vice president for enrollment management.

Owing more than $100,000 in school debt and in the grip of a worsening economy, 20-year-old Lucas Heitman dropped out of Richard Stockton College in Pomona, N.J., this semester and enrolled at his local community college in Camden County, where he's saving $14,500 per semester.

Heitman enrolled at Stockton 21/2 years ago as a marine-biology major. He lived on campus, which is about an hour's drive from his home in Gloucester City, and accumulated debt each year to pay for tuition, room, board, fees, books, loan interest, and other living expenses, he said.

At the time that he became concerned about his debt, he decided to change his major to computer graphic design, which he was happy to learn he could take at Camden County College.

Now he pays about $1,500 per semester and can work two days more a week as a theater aide at Adventure Aquarium in Camden. The money helps, he said, especially since his mother's hours have been cut dramatically at one of her jobs.

"Leaving the people was the hardest part," he said of pulling out of Stockton, "but, finally, it was just impossible for me to pay."

He will begin paying back his loans in 2011.

In addition to more students, community colleges are seeing students taking more courses. Some also report an enrollment increase for online classes.

Schools are handling the influx in a variety of ways.

"I will have to schedule classes carefully," said Robert Messina, president of Burlington County College, where enrollment has climbed 9.2 percent. "Students may have to travel between a couple sites."

Gloucester County College went to a four-day workweek in the summer, closed its buildings over break, and requires purchases to have the approval of the president's office.

At Delaware County Community College, department heads have been asked to cut expenses 5 percent for the next school year.

Montgomery County Community College will try to run classes at capacity.

"When funding isn't as tight as it is, we let courses with less than 10 students run," said Stout, the president. "That's very difficult for us to do in tough economic times."

The college also is hiring more adjunct professors.

Camden County College may resort to slightly larger classes and attrition of some positions.

Community College of Philadelphia, which had to absorb a $2 million cut in funding from the city at midyear, has deferred maintenance and frozen administrative positions. Keeping classes and class supports intact remain top priorities, president Stephen M. Curtis said.

Unlike at schools in other areas of country, Curtis said, he has no plans to limit enrollment.

He said he would sooner run a deficit.

"The last thing we're going to do is turn students away. If people need us more than ever right now, you don't want finances to be one of the things that keep them from coming."


Source: philly.com