CC fall enrollment hits new high

Clarendon College has set a new enrollment record for the second year in a row, according to information released after the 12th class day of the fall semester.
The headcount this fall is 1,431, which is up from 1,347 last year.

CC President Bill Auvenshine said economic conditions and hard work by the college’s student services staff are the reasons for the higher enrollment.
“When the economy is bad, people out of work go to school to get re-trained,” Auvenshine said. “Our economy has held up, but I think people see new jobs coming in the future.”

Auvenshine said Clarendon College is offering more vocational programs to meet demand and has more than 50 students majoring in the wind energy field, which has classes available in Clarendon, Childress, and Pampa.
“We also have had a concerted effort to recruit by our student services staff,” he said. “We’ve added a full time public relations position and an enrollment services counselor, and we’re working well with all our public schools.”

CC reported growth across its service area with 431 students on the home campus up from 407, 289 at the CC Pampa Center up from 207, and 45 at the Childress Center up from 39.

Growth on the home campus continues to be limited by the lack of available affordable housing in Clarendon, Auvenshine said.

Other enrollment numbers come from dual credit students in area high schools, online students, and other off-campus classes. CC reported growth in each of those areas.

CC also has more inmates taking classes at prisons in Childress and Pampa. The state pays for “youthful offenders” to take classes and recently raised the “youthful offender” age from 25 to 35.

“The state pays for this program because they can show that a prisoner who gets a degree will not return to prison,” Auvenshine said.

One key number college officials look at is Full Time Equivalents or FTE, a measurement derived from the total semester hours being taken at the college and dividing by 12. A full time student takes at least 12 hours in a long semester. CC saw its FTE increase by 89 this year.

Contact hours, which are the basis for state funding, grew by 21,472 to a total of 312,144.