🔒Recruiting students key challenge facing CT colleges

Q&A talks with Mark Ojakian, president of the board of regents of the Connecticut State College & Universities system. 

Q: What are the top issues facing the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) system, which includes 17 state colleges and universities that enroll 92,000 pupils?

A: The issues that face most public higher-education institutions in New England are the rise in operating costs coupled with declining enrollment at all of our institutions. Increasing enrollment at each of our institutions in the face of declining high school graduation rates is critical in light of the budget constrictions resulting from the state's overall fiscal condition.

Both of these issues combined present the challenge of attracting students to our colleges and universities. One of the ways we've addressed this is by working closely with our business community so students will know there's a job available to them once they graduate.  Students must believe that attending our schools is a real return on their investment.

Integrally related to the issues of growing costs and declining enrollment is the issue of state funding. The current fiscal condition of the state, and its fiscal outlook for the future, will create a challenge of significant proportion, especially at our community colleges, where 60 percent of the funding must come from the state.  Legislators will have to make very difficult decisions relating to overall state spending, and our challenge will be to persuade them to continue making the investment in CSCU students. 

There is also the challenge of meeting the workforce needs of our industry partners. We work directly with our local business community to develop curriculum that is relevant to available jobs in our state. Seventy-six percent of CSCU students work in the state nine months after graduating. Additionally, seven CSCU community colleges offer advanced manufacturing certificate programs with almost 100 percent job placement.

We've focused on raising awareness of our advanced manufacturing programs and launched a “300 days, 300 jobs” promotion this past spring. Included in the challenge was a partnership with state Department of Labor for outreach to veterans and the underemployed. We currently have 510 students enrolled in our advanced manufacturing programs for the fall 2016 semester.

Q: Several community colleges in the state have started to offer in-state tuition to out-of-state students to help stem declining enrollments. Do you think this is a successful model?

A: Declining enrollment is an issue that is not only impacting our CSCU system or state, it is impacting educational institutions across the country. This is a fact that forces us to think differently about our students and where they come from.

Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield has implemented a pilot program offering in-state tuition to students in western Massachusetts, which is approximately a mile and a half from campus. Asnuntuck has seen the largest enrollment increase in its institution's history this semester (18.5 percent), with 15 percent of that number attributed to the out-of-state program.

Next fall, Western Connecticut State University in Danbury will launch a similar program to attract students from nearby New York state.

At CSCU, we must be thoughtful and quick in our approach to attracting new students and think creatively in order to succeed and remain competitive in this new economic reality.