Spring enrollment down at Clarendon College

Enrollment is down for the spring semester at Clarendon College, but President Phil Shirley says plans are in place to recover from the loss.

Following the 12th class day last Wednesday, the college reported a total headcount of 1,120. That is a drop of 12.3 percent from the spring enrollment in 2012.

“We’re not happy with the drop,” Shirley said. “The biggest hit came from Pampa. They are going to work there instead of going to school.”

The CC Pampa Center’s enrollment dropped 84 students from spring 2012 to a headcount of 313 this semester. The home campus dropped 47 students to 298, but the Childress Center actually gained two students for an enrollment of 52. The remainder of CC’s enrollment is divided among distance education (online) classes and dual credit classes in area high schools.

Shirley said other factors have impacted CC’s numbers, including changes in the financial aid system that makes it harder for some students to get the assistance they need.

“We’re concerned, but we’re taking proactive measures to rectify this,” Shirley said.

CC is starting a new class of nurses with 21 students in Pampa, the college also hopes to soon be offering welding classes in the Neal and Clements Units in Amarillo, and Shirley said Clarendon has received permission from Amarillo College to offer a cosmetology program in that city that could draw as many as 70 students.

Enrollment this semester at area colleges was both up and down, according to an Amarillo Globe-News report. Amarillo College is down 3.3 percent, but Frank Phillips College reports being up 7.8 percent, and West Texas A&M University says it grew 1.8 percent.