Local officials express concern about declining enrollment

Rainy River Community College is among the Minnesota colleges that are showing a decline in enrollment, leading local officials to express concern about the future of the smallest community college in the state.
RRCC enrollment is down 60 students from last year, with a total enrollment of 260 students this fall.
State Rep. Tom Anzelc said he and former Rep. Irv Anderson felt that if the college maintains a student population of 300 or more, it would be in “good shape.” But the population has fallen “significantly under 300,” Anzelc said, and “everybody needs to be concerned.”
RRCC Provost Wayne Merrell said the college is taking positive steps with new trades programs to address the decline in enrollment, which he attributed to several factors, including the termination of the football program and a state-wide trend of declining enrollment at community colleges.
According to Merrell, Northeast Higher Education District President Sue Collins has been assured by Chancellor James McCormick that no college campuses in Minnesota are going to be closed.
“We’re not closing down,” Merrell said, noting that people have called RRCC “broken.” “We’re not broken at all. We’re just small.”
But Anzelc said it is at the point where the college “appears to be vulnerable.”
And all officials cited the need to continue having a higher education facility located in Koochiching County.
“Without having Rainy River Community College in International Falls, we lose a very, very important player in our Borderland community,” Anzelc said.
Loss of students
Anzelc said he has been concerned about enrollment since the termination of the football program. He wanted assurance that the college had a plan in place to replace the students it lost with cutting of the program.
Community support for the football program caused it to be extended in December 2006, but Merrell terminated the football program just 11 months later. The football players were largely responsible for the highest student loan default rate in the state, which put RRCC in jeopardy of losing all eligibility to provide any student loans, Merrell told The Journal in December 2007. The 2007 football team also showed the lowest comparative midterm grade point average since the program began, Merrell said in December.
The football program involved 51 full-time students whose enrollment represented a sum equivalent to about 10 percent of RRCC’s annual operating budget. Merrell said RRCC staff were aware when the program was terminated that it would affect the college’s enrollment rates.
International Falls officials also became concerned when the program was terminated and the impact it would have on enrollment numbers. But at the same time, International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason said they had optimism and a belief that it could be a “phenomenal opportunity” for RRCC to become innovative and entrepreneurial, which is key to its success.
Koochiching County officials also share in the anxiousness about the college’s future.
“If we ever lost that college, it would be a hard blow to the community,” Commissioner Wade Pavleck said, noting that it is not the first time he’s been concerned about the future of the college.
The termination of the football program is one part of the loss of students. Merrell also attributes the loss to an overall decline in enrollment at Minnesota community colleges, which Merrell said the college was anticipating.
The decline is most notably in students taking liberal arts classes, Merrell said. More students are beginning their education at four-year colleges rather than completing their first two years at a community college and later transferring to another school.
Students aren’t realizing that RRCC is recognized as a fully operational accredited college, Merrell said. The first two years at RRCC are the same as taking the first two years at Bemidji State University, but at a less expensive price, he said. RRCC has the same accreditation as BSU and students can transfer their credits to four-year colleges that include the University of Minnesota, he added.
Four-year colleges in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system are reporting that enrollment has generally increased, said Andy Bartlett, associate director of communications and marketing at BSU.
While RRCC’s enrollment is decreasing, Bemidji State University recently reported an increase of 3 percent in new freshmen. As of the 20th day of class at BSU, the enrollment was 5,017 students, which is the largest number since 2003 and the second time since 1998 that BSU has had a head count of more than 5,000 students at that point in the fall, according to BSU. The 20th day of class is used as a marker for enrollment to allow sufficient time for students to drop or add courses and pay tuition. BSU expects overall enrollment for 2008 to increase by nearly 4 percent.

Funding
The decline in enrollment comes at a time when the state and federal economies are not doing well and have revenue problems, Anzelc said. With the state facing an estimated shortfall of $373 million in 2009, legislators are going to consider ways to reduce state financial support rather than increase it, he said.
“My job is to make sure (RRCC) lives,” Anzelc said.
With the state economic downturn, it falls on the legislators representing Borderland to protect the college’s funding, Pavleck said.
“We are concerned in light of a budget shortfall,” Pavleck said.
RRCC is not funded as a single item in the state’s budget. Instead a higher education budget is proposed by Collins that includes line items for all higher education institutions, Anzelc said.
With the assurance that no college campuses will be closed in Minnesota from McCormick, RRCC will instead need to be “tightening its belt,” Merrell said, adding that the college has been careful with “every single expenditure.”
Between now and when the Minnesota Legislature begins in January, a plan and explanation for the decline need to be clarified, Anzelc said. The Legislature plans to review the community college system in its next session. Anzelc said he anticipates that Collins, Merrell and himself will have to answer questions about the decline during the next session.
At the very least, Anzelc said the MnSCU Board needs to be a “strong advocate” for all community colleges, especially RRCC, during the next session.

Solutions
Pavleck said the county is anxious to begin discussing a plan to help RRCC, while Mason called on community leaders to “be in solution mode.” Anzelc said leaders need to be aggressive in forming a plan and communicate effectively that the enrollment at the college will rise.
It is going to take “one gigantic effort on the part of the community to help in it’s survival,” Mason said.
RRCC faces challenges, among those is its rural location. International Falls is so isolated, Mason said, that having a higher education facility in the community is as important as having an airport and infrastructure.
Mason said she believes that the MnSCU Board knows how “critically important” it is to have a college in the community. But the community needs to now prove that the board’s faith in the college is warranted, she said. She asked that people be “patient with RRCC as it restructures and revitalizes.”
Solutions to the enrollment decline proposed by area officials include diversifying the programs offered, creating partnerships and for RRCC to build on programs that already exist at the college.
Pavleck said he would like to see the college diversify the programs it offers by offering more vocational programs from which students can graduate with a two-year associate’s degree. Looking at the future, Pavleck said he sees a construction boom on the nearby Iron Range that is expected to have a lot of potential for trade jobs.
Anzelc said he would like to see more partnerships between Boise Inc. and RRCC and also between the college and high schools. He also said the college needs improvements made to its campus to attract students.
While speaking about RRCC at an August Chamber of Commerce brown bag lunch, Collins said she would like to see the college be a community-driven school that is a cultural and artistic hub for the community. She said she also sees several challenges that RRCC will face in the next two years, but the key is passion. Ensuring the viability of the college means having community support for it and having students attending it, she said.

New programs
Anzelc suggested that RRCC also needs to conduct marketing and outreach to students throughout the state. Students need to be encouraged to come to RRCC to receive their first two years of education, he said. RRCC needs programs that other colleges don’t offer. It needs to give students a reason to attend RRCC, he said.
In anticipating the decline in enrollment, the college began a industrial technology program in 2007 and plans to begin a building trades program in the fall 2009, Merrell said.
Every community needs to offer education opportunities in three areas — health care, industrial technology and building trades — to stay viable, Merrell said.
The building trades program was developed to address the education needs of student who wish to go into construction and carpentry trades, Merrell said. Students are expected to learn residential building trade skills, such as framing, siding, shingling and masonry, he said. The building trades program is expected to matriculate and be the second phase for students who begin studying building trades at Falls High School, Merrell said.
Reports after one year of the industrial technology program indicate that it is going strong. The program began last fall as a solution to a skills gap that is facing Boise Inc. as its baby boomer employees begin retiring. The program had 22 full-time students. As a part of the program, students also complete internships to compliment their classroom learning. An additional 20 students have begun the program this fall.
Mason applauded the industrial technology program because it helps RRCC grow, helps Boise and keeps young people in the area for training and jobs.
Collins said in August that while the liberal arts and sciences programs are the “hallmark” of RRCC, the college needs to consider other technology programs that compliment the strengths of the college. But RRCC is on the right track with its tech programs, she said.
In addition, RRCC has expanded its nursing program from 27 students to 56 students, Merrell said.