Spring enrollment results are in. As of walk-in-registration, Northwest College’s student head count is at 1,535. This number, compared to the spring of 2005, is down by 59 students because there were 1,594 students enrolled in 2004. In the area of full-time equivalent, this spring resulted in 1,446. This number is down 142 compared to the 2005 spring results of 1,588.
One question the office of enrollment posed was why the FTE number is so low. That number is how NWC gets reimbursed through the state. To come up with an FTE, the total credits of every student enrolled is divided by 12 (the number of credits to be considered full time). After this number is found, the state bases its funding for NWC in part on it.
Registrar Brad Hammond broke up the final head count numbers into full-time and part-time to see if that had anything to do with low numbers. In his research he found that full-time enrollment is down 157 students compared to last spring, but in regard to part-time NWC enrollment is up by 98 students. Vice President for Student Affairs Dana Young had some thoughts as to why the full-time numbers are down. She commented, “Culturally we’re trained to start school in the fall. It is inevitable for a college to lose some enrollment from fall to spring semesters.”
This break, the enrollment services office took matters into its own hands when employees saw that enrollment numbers were down. They made 273 phone calls to students registered in the fall, but not yet in the spring and were able to re-register 71 of those students. This also allowed for a gain of 55 FTE. The office also made 259 phone calls to students who didn’t return in fall of 2005 but expressed interest in returning at a later date. They were able to register 69 of these students, gaining 64 FTE.
Even now, the results are changing. The drop/add period has not ended and results may still vary. In fact, concerning the fall of 2004 versus the fall of 2005, the difference in head count equaled only one student. Much of this is attributed to Floyd Young who offered first aid and CPR classes this last fall. “Without Floyd we wouldn’t have got the extra FTE’s that we really needed,” said Dana Young.
The enrollment office has worked hard at increasing the student numbers at NWC. They are currently reviewing a recent survey taken and are working to improve facilities and cater to the need of the community.