Since Lincoln Land Community College has opened its doors in 1968, approximately 17,000 students have enrolled annually. Geographically, Lincoln Land is the largest school in the state of Illinois with campuses in Taylorville, Hillsboro, Beardstown, Litchfield, Jacksonville, as well as its main campus in Springfield.
Evidence has shown that over the past couple of years the number of students attending the community college has gone down.
Each year, every community college in the state is required to report its enrollment records. The Illinois Community College Board keeps track of these records, and they are available to the public online. Lincoln Land had its highest student enrollment increase in fall 2009 with a 4.6 percent increase. Statewide, 2010 had the highest enrollment. Since then, however, the total enrollment number has been dropping statewide.
Susan Simpson, the Director of Institutional Research at Lincoln Land Community College, has been working there for 14 years, and previously she worked for the Illinois Community College Board for 10 years. Her job is to provide the data for the Illinois Community College Board as well as to help the professors and staff at the college with decisions involving enrollment. She does this through the survey of students who are enrolled, which is taken on the 10th day at the beginning of each semester.
The count of the enrolled students is not entirely accurate due to the separate module programs taking place throughout the semester, Simpson said.
Each semester consists of a full 16-week semester, a shortened 12-week semester, which starts four weeks late and continues until the end of the semester, an eight-week module that starts the semester and ends half way through, and a second eight-week module that starts halfway through the semester and ends when the 16-week semester concludes.
Simpson said that because so many programs start late and end early, they do not always have an accurate enrollment count that they submit to the Illinois Community College Board. However, she said, “We do an end of the year count called an annual enrollment.”
The report can be found on Lincoln Land’s website. The annual count, which is done at the end of the year, reveals how many students were enrolled in all the programs.
When asked about how to increase the enrollment number at the college, Simpson referred to the marketing department.
“They [the department] have a robust marketing plan; a lot of it is going to depend on when we do an analysis to see exactly, if we can deter mine what reason there is for students coming back. Sometimes, we just don’t have any impact on student decisions.”
She has reported that the enrollment for the Spring 2014 semester is 6,175, which is down 5.2 percent from the previous year. The head count with the dual credit course enrollment added in is 7,439 which is down 3.6 percent. The Arts and Humanity Department is impacted the most by low enrollment.
Though every year is different, enrollment patterns at Lincoln Land Community College do not change much. Simpson said that the fall semester always has a higher enrollment than the spring semester. Tyra Taylor, Lincoln Land Community College’s Supervisor of Enrollment Services, says there can be many reasons such as “a lot of high school students coming to college for the first time and finding out it isn’t for them, among other reasons.”
Taylor’s job is to oversee registration, admissions, advisors, placement testing, transcripts, tuition, and careers. Among her many tasks, she helps new students find their classes and certify credits. She said that right before Thanksgiving, enrollment drops off.
“I don’t know if its finals or what, maybe people are leaving or getting ready for the holiday,” she said,
After Thanksgiving, Taylor describes enrollment as “very chaotic,” and said they cannot always keep enough appointments. Two weeks before the spring semester starts is a very busy time, too. Snow days and other events have a large impact on registration.
“[Snow days] slow down registration and affect how many students enroll,” she said.
Taylor is not personally involved in enrollment unless there is a problem. She does watch the numbers and statistics and looks for ways to help with enrollment.
“We try to make appointments more available and stay open more hours. I talk to Lesley [Lincoln Land Community College’s Vice President] and with Lynn Whalen [Executive Director of Public Relations] about how to reach people.”
Through Social networking, mail, extended hours, as well as times Taylor has worked to help make enrollment more readily available for students.
No single reason can be given for enrollment being down. The Vice President of Lincoln Land Community College, Lesley Frederick, explains that there is speculation as to the reasons for low enrollment.
“Jobs, Federal Aid changes, WIA dry up, job outlook, personal impact and outmigration from Illinois affect enrollment.”
Frederick said it is hard to predict spikes and dips in enrollment, however there are some suggestions.
“The Baby-Boomer was a big generation,” she said, “and Generation-X is a smaller generation. Generation-X is having kids currently so there aren’t as many.”
Frederick also said that the school enrollment for grades kindergarten through 12th grade is low as well. She said that the economy also plays a major role.
“Community college enrollment increases during poor economy, and the larger university enrollment decreases.”
With the economy increasing, she believes that it could play a factor in current enrollment.
At the moment enrollment is down for Lincoln Land Community College, as well as other community colleges statewide. Data suggests that the occupation department has a higher enrollment that usual, which suggests people are specifically looking for jobs.
Frederickson said that surveys would be a good way to see why students are not returning to college, but as Simpson said, there are some reasons the college does not impact.
Rebekah Lange can be reached at [email protected] or 217-786-2311. This was published in the April 9 edition of The Lamp.