Enrollment at Yavapai Community College continues to slip; administrators say decline since 2011 due to “cuts in scholarships, athletic programs, nursing, and adjustments to other programs”

The YCC administrators said at the January, 2015 Governing Board meeting that “cuts in scholarships, athletic programs, nursing, and adjustments to other programs” are the reasons for the decline in enrollment since 2011.  (Approved minutes of January, 2015 Governing Board meeting.)  However, if reported headcount of students is used as a measure, enrollment has been declining since 2008 when it was at 15,582.  For the 2013-14 academic year, the headcount announced by the College was 11,518.

Despite the reduced headcount, total student tuition revenue has not dropped. The reason for this is that over the past several years there have been annual  increases imposed by the Governing Board.  Also, students who do appear take more classes for credit than previous students.

The Blog believes that if the $1.3 million dollars in student scholarships taken out of the budget in 2012 were restored and used strategically, student enrollment would increase.  No such plan was discussed at the February 2015 Governing Board meeting.

The following chart was created by the Blog based on Annual Financial Records filed by the Community College in June of each year.