Anne Kerr President Florida Southern College
How was enrollment impacted as a result of the pandemic? While the national landscape for higher education has really been struggling to make those shifts that would allow it to move forward, Florida Southern College has been blessed. Our enrollment has been stronger than our projections. We have been very fortunate. The retention of our fabulous faculty has been strong, as has the retention of students progressing from first year through senior year. So, we have not experienced what others may have experienced in higher education. I would say, our budgeting has been challenged because we have had to make many more investments on campus to ensure the health of our students. It has all been enormously expensive — COVID test centers, adding Plexiglas in labs and classrooms for social distancing, temperature controls, air filtration systems – the list goes on and on. Since we are the kind of institution that typically emphasizes face-to-face learning, we have also invested in new technology to offer to our remote-learning students. We are proud of the fact that our students are taking the same classes and working with the same faculty as they would have been without COVID. What programs are seeing the most demand? I am excited to share that our business programs — at our remarkable Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise — are thriving. We see many students attending the Barnett School studying finance, marketing, management, data information systems, all of those important aspects of business. Our enrollment is strong and growing. I believe we will continue to see that trend going forward. We have also made some adjustments to the curriculum to try to help students. We have a 4+1 program, so students can complete four years of undergraduate study and then get an MBA in the fifth year. Students are paying more attention to earning two degrees by getting graduate degrees in a faster format. We have a similar program in education as well as. 148
| Invest: Tampa Bay 2021 | EDUCATION
As educational institutions plan a return back to the classroom, the hybrid approach to education is likely to remain a key tool for educators in a post-COVID future.
( ) Additionally, both school districts and community colleges in Tampa Bay have seen declines in enrollment. In Hillsborough County alone, around 7,000 students were “missing” as of November. St. Petersburg College faced a 9.9% drop in fall enrollment compared to 2019 figures and Hillsborough Community College faced a 16% drop. For some students, the decision regarding inperson or online classes deterred them from returning to college and others are facing family and financial challenges. Funding Of course, a drop in enrollment has far-reaching consequences in the form of budget shortfalls. In response, some higher education institutions have been forced to re-evaluate their footprints and shed some noncore assets in a bid to generate liquidity. EY-Parthenon says there is a more flexible learning environment ahead, which could mean that universities have too much capacity for their intakes. According to the Business Journal, about half of U.S. schools reported net tuition losses in fiscal year 2020, exacerbated by a drop in endowment balances and uncertainty over the viability of welcoming international students.
