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E-mailHeading back to school
With America currently in a recession, not knowing when it will end or if it will get worse, many Americans are heading back to school, and universities are seeing the benefit from more and more people after a better education.
"We were actually a little behind pace last year," said Brian Fernandes, director of student and enrollment services at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Fernandes said enrollment was behind because they were down to one counselor for their recruitment cycle. Now he's happy to report, they're at full capacity and appear to be reaching the enrollment level they had in 2007, which was a record year. In 2008, there were nearly 1,200 students. Currently, the university's enrollment is under 1,100 students.
For the fall semester, Fernandes said they expect a rise in student enrollment to be mainly traditional students. The number of nontraditional students are expected to be at 38 percent.
"We want to crush those 2007 numbers," Fernandes said, adding that above that, the university also wants student retention for those in danger of dropping out of college. "We put new programs into place -- mentoring and tutoring programs for at-risk students."
"We're looking strategically at the market," said Delia Conti, interim director of academic affairs for Penn State Fayette.
Conti said the Fayette Campus offers such popular programs like its nursing courses and mining technology courses.
Susan Brimo Cox, director of public relations for Penn State Fayette, said there are bridge programs in place at the university that help those who've been laid off return to the workforce with enhanced job skills.
Conti said they're also working on a "very active" evening program, offering better degrees. They've even hired an evening student director to make sure every student at the university gets the most for his/her money no matter what time of day they attend.
"We're doing everything we can to make sure enrollment rises," Conti said.
That includes launching a ROTC program in the fall where the first two years will require no military service while building leadership and teamwork skills.
"There are very strong programs in place," Conti said about the more than 160 majors that exist at Penn State, either at the Fayette Campus or the satellite campuses. "That's a huge advantage when picking a college."
In the city of Uniontown, the Laurel Business Institute is experiencing an increase in enrollment.
"This year is starting pretty well," said Doug Decker, director of admissions for Laurel Business Institute.
Decker said enrollment is 20 percent higher than LBI's enrollment goals this year. Those numbers have been steady with traditional students and up with nontraditional students.
The educational institute on average, Decker said, runs about 300 full-time students, but he's expecting the fall enrollment to be over 325.
Decker said LBI started to see an increase in enrollment in late October and early November 2008, and it has carried through to February.
The courses on the rise that coincide with the higher enrollment numbers are healthcare, business and office management, and integrated technology.
No matter if enrollment is up or down, Decker said LBI is always analyzing the job market and trying to target its courses to the high-demand industries. LBI will add or subtract programs when necessary.
Decker was proud to say that, in 2008, LBI placed 98 percent of its graduates into jobs.
"I really think in times like these it's important to us to look at every student individually and help them out," Decker said, adding that since LBI is a smaller school, individual student attention comes easier.
Decker said enrollment may stay steady, may rise or may fall later, but the faculty is excited about the rest of the school year with a positive outlook on enrollment numbers.
Anna Marie Palatella, director of public relations for Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood, said enrollment is up in the spring and the fall. In fact, the community college is having its best terms ever with 6,416 students enrolled for the current semester, numbers that they haven't seen since the early 1990s, Palatella said.
The spring enrollment number was 6,124 students attending compared to 5,909 students enrolled for the previous spring.
Palatella said the number of full-time, first-time students is up to 59.9 percent, which is the highest percentage ever, crushing the previous all-time high of 48 percent.
Palatella also said those particular students are mainly traditional students.
"Based on the economy, generally at community colleges, people go back to school for retraining, and we do anticipate that happening," Palatella said, citing the recent news of the Sony plant in New Stanton closing. "We've seen plenty of Sony employees here to retrain, and we expect that to continue."
One way to help those potential students is the Just in Time Workforce Development Program.
Through a partnership with the college and the Workforce Investment Board of Westmoreland/Fayette and PA CareerLink, the program is open to workers who have lost their jobs due to plant closings or layoffs and is also designed to target workers who have not been re-employed or who have only found work at substantially less wages.
The tuition and waiver applies to the following credit certificate programs and non-credit workforce development programs that will be conducted at the WCCC Youngwood Campus: computer accounting and tax specialist, small business management, early childhood education, medical administration option for office technology, computer numerical control technology, machine technology and welding engineering technology.
The credits earned in those certificate program will count toward associate degree programs in those majors. Just in Time Workforce Development Program will begin on May 8.
Palatella said another program just approved is an AAS Program in Robotics Technology through a partnership with Carnegie Melon University, California University of Pennsylvania, the National Science Foundation and other community colleges.
The program will give an introduction to courses in robotics, which then can be transferred to robotics programs at either Carnegie Melon University or California University of Pennsylvania, to earn a bachelor's degree.
"Pittsburgh is a robotics corridor," Palatella said of the $500 billion industry that has a significant investment in Southwestern Pennsylvania. "There are jobs in this area in robotics."
