Enrollment of full-time equivalent students is down 14% from last year’s fall semester, Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services at Citrus College Claudette Dain said.
A lower enrollment figure could mean revenue losses for the college if enrollment is not restored.
“Citrus College, like all other California community colleges, is under a funding model that primarily funds colleges based on full-time equivalent students,” Dain said.
The Student-Centered Funding Formula is how California allocates funds to community colleges. It provides a student success allocation in which funding depends on student success.
It includes a hold-harmless provision, which protects funding from dropping below a base established in the first year of SCFF. However it is temporary and may expire in two years if it is not renewed.
“70% of the allocation is based on the number of full-time equivalent students that we serve,” Dain said. “If our FTES continues to decline and the hold-harmless provision expires, then we would see a pretty significant reduction in our funding if we don’t restore those FTES.”
Enrollment started to decline during the spring semester of 2020 when all courses were moved online.
A potential cause for the enrollment drop include students taking a gap year, or “waiting it out,” as Dain puts it.
Some students were unable to succeed in an online environment and decided to withdraw.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, community colleges have been receiving financial help from the federal and state government. This includes the CARES Act, federal block grants and grants for minority-serving institutions.
The CARES Act included a student aid portion and an institutional portion.
“The purpose of the institutional portion is to allow colleges to adapt and adjust and continue providing instruction in this remote environment,” Dain said. “This is a very challenging time for our students; it’s challenging for our faculty and our staff as well. The college is committed to providing as much as we can.”
