Hocking College has lost a third of its student body since Spring 2010 and is losing millions of dollars as a result.
Both students and faculty are feeling the effects.
“There’s a lack of coordination,” said Nick Foglio, a freshman studying landscape management. “No one seems to know what they’re doing. There’s an obvious lack of money, too.”
Since this past year’s Winter Quarter, Hocking College’s enrollment shrunk by 1,427 students — 437 of them left just after this past semester alone. The college’s current Spring Semester enrollment is 4,144.
Lack of tuition dollars because of this decline sets Hocking’s funding below average, and the college’s faculty count followed suit.
Declining enrollment could be the result of many factors, including the transition to semesters, changes to federal financial aid, a drop in high-school graduation rates and a “generally improving” economy, said Carl Bridges, provost and vice president of Academic and Student Affairs at Hocking College.
The college has cut a total of $3 million from its budget through faculty and staff payroll cuts, two retirements and one resignation without replacement.
Other significant budget cuts include employee benefits — $700,000 — and supplies — $481,476. The college cut total expenditures by $4.3 million, according to Hocking College’s revised budget and funds.
The cuts make up for the $4.3 million lost in revenue since Summer Quarter and Fall Semester from tuition, fees and other student charges.
Bridges said the school has created a plan to have more school-specific resources and support for students to encourage them to stay connected with the college. The school is also becoming more strategic in setting academic and fiscal goals.
“In the coming years, the emphasis of the Ohio state-funding model is preparing to change to fund higher education institutions based on college completion,” Bridges said. “In response to this, we are also allocating resources to ensure we are focused more on completion rather than enrollment.”
For Foglio, the resources being provided at the moment have proven to be inadequate.
“There’s a lack of options for classes, too,” Foglio said. “A lot of the classes they’ve put me in for my two-year degree are almost completely irrelevant.”
Bridges reiterated the school’s focus on their students.
“Of course, there has been concern as we have watched what is happening across the state in terms of enrollment,” he said. “However, our faculty and staff are committed to helping our students achieve their academic, career and life goals.”
Joe Brodman, a freshman studying nursing, said he has noticed the parking lot is virtually empty and that the school switched from Blackboard to Moodle because the latter is free. He said many around the school aren’t thrilled with the conditions.
“The professors talk about it all the time,” Brodman said. “I don’t think anyone’s really happy with what’s going on. It seems like everyone is mad about where things are going.
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