This content was published: August 15, 2008. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
PCC enrollment is growing and doesn't look likely to stop
Photos and story by Dana Haynes
A question we get asked all the time is: Is your student body growing or shrinking?
And the answer is: growing.
Over the last nine years, collegewide enrollment has increased 18 percent, and it has gone up each term of this academic year. This summer, the college grew by 9.7 percent in total headcount and 14.3 percent in full-time equivalent students (that’s comparing fourth week of last summer vs. fourth week of this summer).
It is true that we lost students right after the recession of 2001-02. Mostly it was in the non-credit Community Education program. But for students seeking to move on to a four-year school, or who are being trained in a new career or re-trained in their existing career, tough times mean turning to a community college for help.
In order to pay for the new construction and to make the bond measure “pencil out,” PCC will need to draw an additional 4,000 FTE students, or “full-time equivalent.” And these will have to be credit students.
Can we?
Simple answer: yes. The PCC District is expected to grow by an addition 369,000 people by 2020. And a lot of those folks are going to want an affordable education.
Send your feedback to dana.haynes@pcc.edu. And thanks in advance.
About Dana Haynes
Dana Haynes, joined PCC in 2007 as the manager of the Office of Public Affairs, directing the college's media and government relations. Haynes spent the previous 20 years as a reporter, columnist and editor for Oregon newspapers, including ... more »