A variety of factors leads to smaller enrollment numbers for STLCC
By: Jacob Politte, Online Editor
Enrollment at STLCC-Meramec has decreased from the previous school year, according to information recently confirmed by the Meramec Admissions Department and the enrollment management department that is now based out of the Forest Park campus.
“Generally speaking, enrollment is a combination of recruiting new students, retaining and supporting current and continuing students, welcoming back students from prior years, and celebrating students who complete their credentials and degrees at STLCC,” said Philip Campbell, who serves as the Admissions and Enrollment Services Manager for the Meramec and South County campuses of St. Louis Community College.
In his role, Campbell is responsible for campus-level oversight of college enrollment processes related to admissions, registration and management of student records according to federal, regional, state and institutional policy. In addition, he serves as the lead admissions officer and official steward of student academic records at the Meramec campus.
“With such a large scope,” he says, “enrollment changes almost every day based on many factors from personal circumstances that students may face to new opportunities that our students may be provided.”
“While our recruitment efforts have grown to include more community outreach, higher numbers of dual credit and dual enrollment students including early college programs with several high schools, and strong transfer opportunities with the Missouri Transfer Guarantee coursework; our biggest challenge is support continuing students to continue to register term to term,” said Campbell.
Campbell also said that while the newly instituted online college doesn’t affect STLCC’s enrollment numbers, it does change how those numbers are viewed in terms of Meramec. He said that the lower enrollment will affect the campus budget, but it’s hard to tell how exactly how much at the moment.
“Lower enrollment obviously means less tuition dollars to add to the overall budget,” he says. “Since we are still enrolling students in 12-week and second 8-week courses, it is hard to say what the impact on the budget from tuition dollars will be for fall 2019.”
Campbell also made sure to note exactly how enrollment is categorized for students who attend classes at multiple campuses. “Students can take classes at any campus or online,” he said. “However, the campus that they self-identify on their application is where they are counted for enrollment purposes.”
In terms of how he thinks enrollment can increase in the future, Campbell said that he thinks that the largest opportunity to boost enrollment is to encourage current students to register early and continue in their educational programs by utilizing the many resources that STLCC has made available.
These resources include the Student Assistance Program, Counseling, the Academic Support Center, and Campus Life as well as the many student club experiences on campus; and for transportation help, the free Metro U-Pass. Campbell said he thinks that these programs are resources are often underutilized, but stresses that they provide great help for students who need it.
