COM investigates admissions decline
Jonathan B. Opet
Issue date: 10/1/05 Section: News
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Where have all the students gone? Or as College of Marin administrators are asking: Why are students not enrolling at the campuses?
The decline in student enrollment at COM is not a new phenomenon. The CCS Group, a company hired by COM to assist in the development of the educational master plan, reported to the board of trustees in August that in 1980,enrollment at COM was 20,208 and by 2004 it had dropped to 8,160.
A Sept. 2 census indicated a 7.3 percent drop in enrollment, about 500 students, since fall 2004. During the academic year of fall 2003 to fall 2004 COM enrollment declined about 8.5 percent.
"I don't think the community appreciates the quality of the faculty at COM," said Robert Flynn, co-chair of the counseling department. "I don't think the students know how to discern when they're in high school where the good faculty is."
A recent study of high school graduates in Marin County by the CCS Group found that during a three-year period, 500 students enrolled at Santa Rosa community college and 438 enrolled at COM.
"Even if a community college is selected by local students, the predominant choice is not College of Marin," the CCS Group's report said.
On average, counties with community colleges lose about 16 percent of the applicable population to community colleges outside the county; in Marin County the loss is 63 percent, according to CCS Group.
"Students say that they're willing to commute 40 minutes...to get a new environment," said Flynn. "And Santa Rosa has an incredible curriculum. They've got a curriculum to serve 28,000 students, and it's diverse."
Since COM has quantified the declining enrollment numbers, the administration now has a luminous picture of the situation's severity.
COM's interim Marketing Director Andrew Carothers said the biggest step COM has made in addressing declining enrollment is acknowledging it and collecting data.
According to the CCS Group, a highincome average, a higher than average education level and a low rate of unemployment - CCS Group lists 4 percent for Marin County compared to a national rate of 5 percent in August- may be reasons why enrollment is declining.
The data compiled by the CCS Group suggested that Marin County, unlike California as a whole, has not seen recent significant growth in population. Furthermore, the median income of Marinites is about 100 percent more than the state of California's average. The CCS Group deduces from this information that high school students in Marin County may choose a four-year institution instead of COM in part because of the county's affluence.
In addition, in Marin County 51 percent of the residents have a bachelor's degree compared with the state of California's average of 27 percent.
According to CCS Group, 72 percent of COM classes have fewer than 20 students and 51 percent had fewer than 10 students per section.
"We are getting smaller and smaller," said Flynn. "That could be not so bad. Maybe we will end up being a small liberal arts and technical college with a great faculty and a beautiful campus."
The decline in student enrollment at COM is not a new phenomenon. The CCS Group, a company hired by COM to assist in the development of the educational master plan, reported to the board of trustees in August that in 1980,enrollment at COM was 20,208 and by 2004 it had dropped to 8,160.
A Sept. 2 census indicated a 7.3 percent drop in enrollment, about 500 students, since fall 2004. During the academic year of fall 2003 to fall 2004 COM enrollment declined about 8.5 percent.
"I don't think the community appreciates the quality of the faculty at COM," said Robert Flynn, co-chair of the counseling department. "I don't think the students know how to discern when they're in high school where the good faculty is."
A recent study of high school graduates in Marin County by the CCS Group found that during a three-year period, 500 students enrolled at Santa Rosa community college and 438 enrolled at COM.
"Even if a community college is selected by local students, the predominant choice is not College of Marin," the CCS Group's report said.
On average, counties with community colleges lose about 16 percent of the applicable population to community colleges outside the county; in Marin County the loss is 63 percent, according to CCS Group.
"Students say that they're willing to commute 40 minutes...to get a new environment," said Flynn. "And Santa Rosa has an incredible curriculum. They've got a curriculum to serve 28,000 students, and it's diverse."
Since COM has quantified the declining enrollment numbers, the administration now has a luminous picture of the situation's severity.
COM's interim Marketing Director Andrew Carothers said the biggest step COM has made in addressing declining enrollment is acknowledging it and collecting data.
According to the CCS Group, a highincome average, a higher than average education level and a low rate of unemployment - CCS Group lists 4 percent for Marin County compared to a national rate of 5 percent in August- may be reasons why enrollment is declining.
The data compiled by the CCS Group suggested that Marin County, unlike California as a whole, has not seen recent significant growth in population. Furthermore, the median income of Marinites is about 100 percent more than the state of California's average. The CCS Group deduces from this information that high school students in Marin County may choose a four-year institution instead of COM in part because of the county's affluence.
In addition, in Marin County 51 percent of the residents have a bachelor's degree compared with the state of California's average of 27 percent.
According to CCS Group, 72 percent of COM classes have fewer than 20 students and 51 percent had fewer than 10 students per section.
"We are getting smaller and smaller," said Flynn. "That could be not so bad. Maybe we will end up being a small liberal arts and technical college with a great faculty and a beautiful campus."