We finally got a current (as of Monday) enrollment count. It stands at 1342. That will likely go up a little this week - probably settling in at about 1400.
Not as bad as rumors would have it, but 2011 fall enrollment was 2346. 2012 fall was 1837, down 22%. If our final count this fall is about 1400, that's down 24% from last fall.
This is heartbreaking for me. It's a very good little school, with excellent faculty, and finally good administration. But all I can do is save myself by retiring.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
A strange start to school.
Our back-to-school faculty meetings are this week. The big one (8 hours!) was yesterday. Yes, 8 hours, because it included lunch, and to pay for our lunch we had to listen to speeches while we ate.
The college president spoke early, and usually he is informative. I was hoping for some solid enrollment numbers from him, but nope. During the q & a session, someone asked about enrollment. The admissions lady was called up to the podium, and she said a lot of hemming and hawing and gee, not everyone has enrolled yet, and it's hard to compare from last year, and we have no solid numbers, and gee, we really hope it's not down too much, and blah, blah. She either did not know or did not want to say. I'm not sure which is worse. All of the faculty, of course, noticed that the question was never actually answered.
However, one of the faculty in this department has a wife who works in the tutoring center. She somehow has better access to this kind of information than we do. Her latest information is that the enrollment is at about 1100 as of yesterday, which is a little better than we feared, but not by much. We are expected a group of internationals to go to advisement/ enrollment tomorrow morning. Hoping for the best.
Last week I heard a rumor that the big student cafeteria would be closed this fall and that all of the dorm students would be fed at the snack bar, due to the small number of students in the dorms. Yesterday, we were informed that the cafeteria would indeed be closed, though the announcement did not mention the number of people in the dorms. They said it was due to the fact that the students would prefer the snack bar because of the TV and pool table. But, there is no way they could do it if the dorm numbers were not down significantly.
So, here we go.
The college president spoke early, and usually he is informative. I was hoping for some solid enrollment numbers from him, but nope. During the q & a session, someone asked about enrollment. The admissions lady was called up to the podium, and she said a lot of hemming and hawing and gee, not everyone has enrolled yet, and it's hard to compare from last year, and we have no solid numbers, and gee, we really hope it's not down too much, and blah, blah. She either did not know or did not want to say. I'm not sure which is worse. All of the faculty, of course, noticed that the question was never actually answered.
However, one of the faculty in this department has a wife who works in the tutoring center. She somehow has better access to this kind of information than we do. Her latest information is that the enrollment is at about 1100 as of yesterday, which is a little better than we feared, but not by much. We are expected a group of internationals to go to advisement/ enrollment tomorrow morning. Hoping for the best.
Last week I heard a rumor that the big student cafeteria would be closed this fall and that all of the dorm students would be fed at the snack bar, due to the small number of students in the dorms. Yesterday, we were informed that the cafeteria would indeed be closed, though the announcement did not mention the number of people in the dorms. They said it was due to the fact that the students would prefer the snack bar because of the TV and pool table. But, there is no way they could do it if the dorm numbers were not down significantly.
So, here we go.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Goodbye, Old Paint
Earlier this spring, I decided that the time for my retirement would be in the summer of 2014. I have already talked to the dean about it, and I will announce to the department when school starts. I am happy here, but I am starting to get burned out, and it's time to move on.
In the last few weeks, I have discovered something else that reinforces the fact that this is a good time to retire. This blog has been full of reports about the difficulties that this little college has had to work through. We have eliminated the problems, and the people that were the source of the problems, and soon (probably October) the accrediting body will rule, and we are all expecting a good report. So far, so good. But enrollment was down last fall, and I knew we would be down again this fall. I expected a relatively small down tick, which I thought would be reversed in a year after we get our expected clean bill of health.
BUT, I just found out that our expected enrollment this fall is only about 1000 students. This is down a whopping 50% from 2 years ago. Holy macaroni and cheese! Much of this is due to the problems we have had to work through. Much of it, however, is due to the local paper printing exaggerating and misleading reports on this. Just a couple of weeks ago, they printed on the front page of the Sunday paper an article about another college in another state that lost its accreditation, but the picture was of this college, and the headlines implied we were headed in the same direction. I found out later that the situation at that other college was entirely different. Does the paper want us to die? It would seem so.
We were able to hire a new math professor, who will start in January. The good news is that this person can also teach some computer science. Given that, the college may not feel the need to replace me next year!
The road home is looking better and better.
In the last few weeks, I have discovered something else that reinforces the fact that this is a good time to retire. This blog has been full of reports about the difficulties that this little college has had to work through. We have eliminated the problems, and the people that were the source of the problems, and soon (probably October) the accrediting body will rule, and we are all expecting a good report. So far, so good. But enrollment was down last fall, and I knew we would be down again this fall. I expected a relatively small down tick, which I thought would be reversed in a year after we get our expected clean bill of health.
BUT, I just found out that our expected enrollment this fall is only about 1000 students. This is down a whopping 50% from 2 years ago. Holy macaroni and cheese! Much of this is due to the problems we have had to work through. Much of it, however, is due to the local paper printing exaggerating and misleading reports on this. Just a couple of weeks ago, they printed on the front page of the Sunday paper an article about another college in another state that lost its accreditation, but the picture was of this college, and the headlines implied we were headed in the same direction. I found out later that the situation at that other college was entirely different. Does the paper want us to die? It would seem so.
We were able to hire a new math professor, who will start in January. The good news is that this person can also teach some computer science. Given that, the college may not feel the need to replace me next year!
The road home is looking better and better.
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