‘Disappointing but not surprising.’ Merced College enrollment dips due to COVID pandemic

The latest numbers from Merced College show campus enrollment took a significant dip because of the COVID pandemic during the recent fall and spring semesters.

Campus officials, however, say they certainly aren’t surprised, given that most instruction has been online during the past year.

Total student enrollment — which includes both full and part time students — dropped 6.9% in fall semester 2020, going from 9,883 students in fall 2019 to 9,197 last year.

This spring semester the campus reported a 3.6% drop among all students — 9,127 students in spring 2020 compared to 8,800 students this spring semester.

In the fall 2019 there were 4,412 full-time students enrolled compared to 4,000 full-time students enrolled fall last year, a 9.3% decrease. Last spring there were 4,001 full time students enrolled, and now there are 3,500 — a 12.5% decrease.

Mike McCandless, vice president of student services at Merced College, attributed the decrease in enrollment to the campus moving to online courses after in-person courses were largely put on hold after the pandemic began last March.

For instance, McCandless explained that a student who struggles with math, may prefer to take that course in-person rather than online. “I’d say (the enrollment) was disappointing but not surprising to see that dip,” McCandless said.

Despite the downturn in enrollment, as vaccinations increase statewide the signs are encouraging that college life and in-person classes will be closer to normal by fall of this year. Case in point, Merced College this week announced it’s having an in-person graduation in May for 2020 and 2021 graduates.

Plus, McCandless said the “silver lining” of the situation was the campus learned different paths and opportunities for teaching they wouldn’t have thought were possible before the pandemic.

“We’re going to be able to accommodate students in different learning needs and styles, moving forward, even when we’re able to return to a more traditional model,” he said.

Drop in students impacts finances

Less students certainly isn’t helping Merced College’s bottom line. Students currently pay $46 per unit (most college level classes are three units).

Still, that money does not pay for cost of operations and most students receive federal financial aid for their courses or have those fees waived through the California Promise Program, a grant program accessible for community college students.

The campus also gets revenue from the state through a formula that provides money for each enrolled full-time student. The formula also provides additional compensation for success metrics, like the number of students who complete courses.

The full-time student reimbursement rate is around $3,600, McCandless said.

McCandless said there’s also a system called “Hold Harmless” — which is playing a key role into how much the college is collecting now. “They look at what you’re making previously as a district and they’re going to fund you at that same rate because they know system-wide enrollments (at community colleges) are down significantly,” he explained.

“And those enrollments, those represent opportunities for students, so the only way as a district you could offer the same number of opportunities, with a fewer monies, is if you’re canceling classes for students. So they provided the ‘hold harmless’ in order for districts to maintain 1). people working and 2). opportunities for students to succeed.”

While enrollment numbers have changed, the campus’ ethnic makeup remains the same: roughly 60% Hispanic, 21% White, 3% Black, and 1% is unknown.

This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 5:00 AM.