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Posts tagged as “enrollment”

(Archive March 2017) Decrease in Student Enrollment Increases the Role of Grants in MWCC Department Budgeting

By editorialteam on September 10, 2024

By Kelly Cacciolfi | Observer Contributor

With decreased enrollment, the demographic of students that is ever changing and budget restrictions, both Robert LaBonte, Vice President of Finance and Administration and Jason Zelesky, Dean of Students said that they have tough jobs of doing the best for the overall student and retention of those students here at MWCC.

 LaBonte has been at MWCC for 22 years. Raised in the Gardner area, LaBonte said, “I feel this is the best place for me; my position is challenging as I am responsible for running the Finance and Administration Office, Cafe, Fitness Center, Theater, and the Facilities Department.” LaBonte said, “It’s like running a large company with a lot of separate businesses within, and MWCC is the parent company.” read more

(Archive November 1, 2011) Enrollment Decreases at MWCC

By editorialteam on August 10, 2024

By Benjamin Allen | Observer Contributor

At MWCC, enrollment rates are down 3.8% in the 2011 fall semester after several years of continuous increases. You can see the changes in enrollment rates in the chart above.

The associate VP of enrollment management and student financial aid, Ryan Forsythe, attributed the decrease to a change in the economic situation and people with less of a need to go to school. The decline is also caused by smaller high school graduating class sizes and a change in demographics in the community. Forsythe also noted that these enrollment rates are fluctuating around the area with many other colleges seeing changes in their enrollment rates. read more

Student Enrollment: From ‘Empty Seats in Empty Classrooms’ to ‘Filling Up Fast’

By editorialteam on September 20, 2023

MWCC President Feeling ‘Optimistic’ After Uptick in Enrollment

By Elysian Alder | Editor-in-Chief

After a decade of precipitous declines in enrollment, Massachusetts community colleges are now poised to experience an enrollment resurgence, signaling the potential for positive developments in higher education institutions across the state. Mount Wachusett Community College, in particular, has already begun to see the results of this shift. “We put a budget together to be perhaps down 6%, and we’re up 12%,” explained MWCC President James Vander Hooven. “So it’s an 18% swing in our budget and 12% increase in students.” read more

Empty Seats in Empty Classrooms

By editorialteam on May 18, 2023

By Luke Guertin | Observer Contributor

Enrollment numbers at community colleges across Massachusetts have plummeted, with many factors — including the COVID-19 pandemic — contributing to the decline. The Mount is no exception. “We are down, like every community college,” said James Vander Hooven, President of Mount Wachusett Community College. “I know we are in a challenging time.”

According to The Boston Globe, from the fall semester of 2019 to the beginning of the fall in 2022, 13,000 dropped out of community college, and it is feared most of those students will not return. The article also states that most of those students were parents who are unable to attend school while also caring for their family. The largest drop in all community colleges came between the fall of 2019 to 2020, when 8,600 dropped out to work or take care of family. The number of students who enrolled from 2012 to 2022 fell 37%, which has left roughly 6,000 students in the state left attending community college. Data from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education indicates that MWCC is smaller than most other community colleges, so even as all other community college enrollment numbers decline, the impact on the Mount is especially noteworthy. read more