El Vaquero

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo Illustration by Sumaya Mehai Low enrollment often leads to class cancellations. The college is attempting to improve student numbers by offering new programs and providing more options to serve students' needs.

Colleges statewide have been going through an ongoing decline in enrollment and with fewer students signing up classes are in danger of being cancelled.
In response to this crisis, GCC has attempted to improve the numbers by drawing more students into new programs and providing more options to serve students' needs.

Vice President of Administrative Services Larry Serot said that low enrollment is directly related to the economy. The economy is doing relatively well right now, and Serot said that when the economy is in a better state there are fewer students attending college because not much is needed for people to attain more skills for a job.

He said that the enrollment numbers may be diminishing because there are people who are working while the economy is in good standing and there are fewer high school graduates.

Declining enrollment has also been attributed to parking problems on campus.

"We'll see if parking makes a difference with the new garage," said Serot. "Then we'll know if parking truly was a major deterrent [to enrollment]."

However, Vice President of Instructional of Services Dawn Lindsay said the lack of parking spaces cannot be the sole reason for low enrollment.

"There isn't one answer to the issue here," she said. "There are other educational options and some students may be opting to attend colleges that offer different types of teaching modalities or classes [offered] at different times."

Even with a new semester, enrollment is down all over this semester. Several classes are even on the verge of cancellation. Professor Jeff Smith, an adjunct who teaches public relations and broadcast journalism, said that he only has about 10 students enrolled in both courses and that he was concerned because he was told 15 students are required to prevent a class from being cancelled. [At press time, El Vaquero found out that both of Smith's classes have gone forward.]

Both courses are only offered in the evening but Smith said, "night versus day classes is not the problem. [My classes] are now offered every semester compared to once a year."

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