CC enrollment sets new high

Clarendon College’s previous enrollment record bit the dust last week when CC set a new all-time high for a fall semester.

Following the 12th class day last Wednesday, CC’s fall head count was officially tallied at 1,639, setting a new benchmark for the 120-year-old college and blowing by the previous record enrollment of 1,590 set in the fall of 2017.

“Obviously, we’re very proud of everyone involved,” CC President Robert Riza said. “When you take care of processes and take care of students, growth will come.”

Forty-nine students above fall 2017 represents about a 3.1 percent increase, but it’s a dramatic increase compared to where the college was just four years ago. Enrollment in Dr. Riza’s first fall semester enrollment in 2014 was 1,211, and Clarendon College has posted growth every fall since then. This fall’s enrollment is more than 35 percent higher than 2014’s headcount.

The growth this year is particularly impressive when the regional unemployment rate is taken into consideration. College officials say enrollment usually dips when unemployment is low.

“We’re at what’s considered full employment in the Texas Panhandle,” Riza said.

The Texas Workforce Commission reports the July jobless rate in the Amarillo area at 2.9 percent.

Enrollment on the Clarendon campus this fall is 340 compared to 338 last year with higher enrollments in the dorms than last year. The dorms are full, and the college’s new strategic plan calls for finding ways to add more beds to the campus.

Enrollment at the CC centers in Childress and Gray counties are down. Pampa is at 196 compared to 238 one year ago; and Childress is 34 compared to 43. Both of those communities are experiencing very low unemployment, Riza said, which has hurt enrollment there. College officials pointed out, however, that some students in Gray and Childress counties have shifted from traditional classroom classes to online classes.

A total of 125 students are enrolled in strictly online classes, also known as distance education, this fall.

CC’s cosmetology campus in Amarillo was essentially flat with an enrollment of 85 students with 44 traditional students and the remainder being dual credit students from Amarillo and Canyon.

The main driver of CC’s enrollment growth has been dual credit offerings, which the college now has in 22 area school districts. This fall has 735 students taking dual credit through CC, up from 678 last year.

“Over the last five years, we’ve increased dual credit head counts by about 225 percent,” Riza said. “Our credit hours through dual credit are up about 250 percent.”

Clarendon High School has 34 students enrolled in dual credit this semester. Hedley has 14.

Clarendon College’s success with dual credit led Sen. Kel Seliger to call Dr. Riza to Austin last week, where he testified about that subject before the Senate Joint Committee on Education and Higher Education. In a Tweet Tuesday afternoon, Seliger said it was great to have Senate District 31’s very own President Riza in Austin to showcase the success happening at Clarendon College.

CC’s enrollment growth has continued to be strong across all semesters. The spring 2018 enrollment of 1,451 was also a school record for that period, and summer classes and mini-sessions have also been setting records in 2017 and 2018 as the college works to offer classes in demand and on schedules that attract students.

“If you do the things you’re supposed to do, enrollment follows,” Riza said. “When you look at the calendar, we have just one day out of the next 11 months or longer that we do not have students in some kind of class.”

CC’s next session – an eight-week mini-session for cosmetology, welding, and online classes – starts October 22, and a CDL session starts October 29 in Pampa.