Atlantic Cape Ponders Enrollment Decline, County’s Portion Dips 15 Percent in Three Years

COURT HOUSE – Enrollments at Atlantic Cape Community College have experienced a steady decline since hitting their peak in 2010. Over that period Atlantic Cape has lost about 6 percent of its enrollment and the president’s budget message for the current year predicted a decline of another 3 percent in 2014.
The loss in enrollments among Cape May County students is significantly higher. From 2010 to 2013, Cape May County enrollments at Atlantic Cape dropped 15 percent. Even at its peak, enrollments in Cape May County represented only about 20 percent of the total at ACCC, but during the present downturn they account for over 50 percent of the total decline.
Dr. Richard Perniciaro, vice president of planning and research, said the college is well aware of the trend and is aggressively taking steps to meet it. The basic problem, Perniciaro said, is “the pie is shrinking.” He noted that the overall population trend is down, especially in Cape May County, and that the “bubble” that was passing through the schools has ended.
“We are starting to see consolidation at lower levels and a shrinking high school graduation pool.” It is not major yet but the trend is clear. “Cape May County was just ahead of the curve,” Perniciaro said, “and now we are seeing the same pressures in Atlantic County.”
Atlantic Community College, the precursor institution to Atlantic Cape, was organized by the state in 1964 for service to Atlantic County. It was not until 1999 that a joint college was organized encompassing Atlantic and Cape May counties.
Trustees approved a new name for the joint college in February 1999. The Cape May County campus, on Court House-South Dennis Road, (CR 657) in Court House, opened Aug. 24, 2005.
Approximately 15 percent of the classroom and administrative space of Atlantic Cape is located on the Cape May County campus. From the point where the new campus opened until 2010, Cape May County enrollments grew by 44 percent, an indication of need in the county that was finally being met.
Perniciaro noted that the growth years for Atlantic Cape were caused by many factors. There was a remaining generation bubble going through the school system providing increased graduates looking for post-secondary education.
The recession that began in 2008 also drove many people to seek education programs as a means of competing better in a tight employment environment. The steep increases in tuition and fees at both private and public higher education institutions also made Atlantic Cape more attractive as a less expensive way for students to begin the college experience.
The larger number of high school graduates seeking Atlantic Cape’s programs even had the impact of lowering the average age of the college’s student body. Perniciaro says that the college may even have paid less attention to the recruitment of older students.
The downside of these years of growth, Perniciaro said, is that the college became a bit complacent. “We didn’t need to put much money or effort into marketing.” With the demographics moving against it, Atlantic Cape needs to focus more on recruitment and the retention of students already enrolled. Perniciaro spoke of a recent reorganization that created an office to merge marketing and enrollment management and to oversee a comprehensive approach for the use of Atlantic Cape’s resources in this area.
Approximately 20 percent of the college’s annual budget is funded by the two counties, almost 15 percent comes from the state, and the remainder is funded through tuition and fees. Heavily dependent on tuition and fees, enrollment is a key issue for Atlantic Cape.
Over the period of declining enrollments, full time staff at Atlantic Cape has been reduced by 9 percent. The decline has even hit the college’s online programs.
“We used to see online enrollments from all over the country,” Perniciaro said, “but now most of those enrollments are coming from students we already have enrolled.” The ability of the online program to add to the Atlantic Cape student body is diminishing because so many schools have opened up online education that the competition is much stronger.
The college may also have to consider its mix of programs. The mission of a community college leaves it facing a number of competing goals with regard to enrollment.
In one respect it is a place of last resort, with an open admissions policy that allows students facing challenges for admission to other state supported schools to enroll. Other students with stronger preparation who seek to use the community college as the least expensive way to gain initial credits before transfer to a four-year institution need easy and flexible access to programs.
Perniciaro noted that Cape May County students may not be able to complete a desired major at the Cape May location. “There are a number of majors that require that students commute to the main campus,” he said. This makes online programs more appealing to Cape May students. Almost a quarter of Cape May County enrollments at Atlantic Cape are taken in the online programs.
Still other students see the community college as the source of training in job skills for immediate use in the workforce. Matching the right programs to the demands of that potential student market is a challenge facing Atlantic Cape.
The roles played by Atlantic Cape as a less expensive entry point for students seeking the increasingly important four-year degree and as a place for immediate acquisition of necessary workforce skills are as important as ever. The challenge seems to be to figure ways to better marshal the college’s resources to meet the demographic downturn.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.