Enrollment at Clark College increased 10.4% in state full-time equivalency this fall term compared with fall 2022, according to a press release from the college.
Clark College President Dr. Karin Edwards said, “After several years of enrollment decline, and the impact of the global pandemic, it’s heartening that our state full-time equivalency (FTE) this fall has increased by at least 10% over last fall, surpassing our local enrollment goal for state-funded FTE. We’ve welcomed over 8,600 students to start the term, exceeding our college-budgeted targets across enrollment categories.”
Enrollment at community colleges nationwide dropped sharply during the pandemic and the push to move most classes to online delivery during the shutdown, according to the release. As enrollment starts to turn around, data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center showed a 0.5% gain in enrollment at community colleges nationwide during spring term 2023. In comparison, following the pandemic, enrollment plummeted 10.1% in spring 2021 and 8.2% in 2022, according to the release.
Clark College’s enrollment follows national enrollment trends, which showed enrollment increases of under 5%, starting last fall. Enrollment numbers are provided by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), which tracks enrollment data for the 34 public colleges in its system.
According to the release, Clark College enrolled a total of 8,683 students, an 8.4% increase from the previous fall. This translated to the full time equivalent (FTE) enrollment numbers at 5,932, which breaks down as following:
• State FTEs (without Running Start) include Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS), international and “other” showed enrolled FTEs of 4,278, a 10.4% increase from previous year. This was a 6 % increase from the budgeted FTEs of 4,033 projected for the fall term.
• Running Start showed 1,587 enrolled FTEs, a 10.7% increase from fall 2022 and a 7% increase from budgeted FTEs.
• 237 athletes in volleyball, cross-country, soccer, basketball, baseball, softball and track.
Student demographics shared at the last Board of Trustees work session on Sept 27 are:
• Sex/Gender – 56.7% female; 33.9% male; 9% nonbinary; 10.5% unreported
• Age – 41.5% younger than 19; 30.9% between 20-29; 13.7% between 30-39; 13.6% 40 or older; 0.2% unreported
• Race/ethnicity - 60.4% white; 13.7% multi-racial; 10.5% Latinx; 6.8% Asian; 2.9% Black/African American; 0.8% Pacific Islander; 0.4% Native American; and 4.4% unreported
• Student types – 24.1% first-time college students; 75.9% returning students
• Modality -— 51.3% full-time; 48.7% part-time
• Veterans: 223 students are military veterans
• Students in program types – 55.3% transfer; 20.3% career and technical education (CTE); 12.7% transitional studies (ESL and college prep); 4.9% non-award seeking; 3.5% bachelor of applied sciences; 3.2% continuing education
• Modality: 6,514 students in-person; 10,999 students online; and 4,407 hybrid
• Faculty - 70% full-time faculty; 30% part-time or adjunct faculty. During fall term 177 full-time faculty are teaching.
Dr. Jim Wilkins-Luton, interim vice president of instruction, attributes the college’s growth to staff and faculty, according to the release.
“Our faculty works hard to provide students with learning experiences that meet their needs,” he said in the release. “Whether it is developing our new bachelor of applied science in teacher education degree or our pending new bachelor of science in computer science degree, Clark’s faculty strive to prepare students for productive lives and living-wage jobs in our community.”
