Lane Community College says it’s had a 10 percent increase in enrollment over last year for the fall term. The school says the larger student population will help it avoid staff reductions.
LCC Vice President of Student Affairs Colman Joyce said they’ve also seen an increase in continuing students who are getting their certificates or degrees.
“We had budget projections that we would have to make a certain amount of cuts at the institution, and we were able to revise those cuts,” Joyce said. “So, it’s really helped us out. And when you get a strong fall term, winter term, spring and summer usually fall in that trajectory too.”
Joyce attributes the enrollment boost to investments in better technology to communicate with potential students. They’ve also held outreach events at high schools from Blue River to Florence.
“We’ve been better at communicating with students,” Joyce said. “And worked with outside vendors to target students who look like they’d be a good fit.”
Joyce said enrollment at LCC has been declining for the past ten years. But that trend seems to have reversed over the past couple of years.
In a press release sent November 2, the college said:
“The budget was built on a 5% enrollment increase and the higher enrollments result in an additional $450,000 tuition revenue over budget assuming the 5% increase is achieved in winter and spring terms. Additionally, 2023-24 state-wide community college funding levels have been finalized, and LCC will be receiving $1.3 million more than budgeted. Lastly, the budget balancing work performed over the summer and fall have resulted in Board authorized savings of $2.8 million. This good news and work have resulted in a 2023-24 balanced operational budget.”
Lane Community College is the license holder for KLCC.
