...
a.-.
Back from Space NASA Astronaut Tom Akers, left, and Charles Pellerin, a visiting CUBoulder professor, talk with reporters and photographers after a lecture Monday at St. Cajetan's. Akers was one of the crew members on the space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Telescope. Pellerin is considered to be one of the fathers of the Hubble. Please see story on Page 5 .
'
• .....
Photo by Andy Cross
....
MSCD Spring Enrollment, Applications Decline Jean E. R. Straub STAFF WRITER Applications to MSCD have dropped "somewhat significantly," and enrollments are down, but "not precipitously," according to one MSCD administrator. This year there have been about 400 fewer applications submitted to MSCD than last year, said Jett Conner, associate vice president of Academic Affairs. The figure combines new and re-admit applications, he said. "There is some concern about that," Conner said. "We don't know exactly why that is the case. It's a little early to speculate." MSCD enrollment for the spring 1994 semester is down more than 200 "full-time equivalency students" from the same date last year, he said. Full time equivalency is a measurement used by administrators. On the basis of a year, it is the number of students considered to be taking 30 hours. It may take a number of part-time students to equal one full-time equivalency student. "The figures are about what we expected," said David Williams, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. ''Enrollment is always lower spring semester. It
,,;
is typical in institutions around the country." The drop in enrollment could be attributed to a number 9f things, Conner said. It is conceivable that tuition by the credit hour could have something to do with the decrease, he said. The local economy is as good an indicator as any of MSCD enrollment figures, said Conner and Ken Curtis, associate vice president and dean of Admissions and Records. "As the Denver economy picks up, we lose some students who go back to work," Conner said. Roughly 80 percent of MSCD students work, he said. A number of four-year schools are down in enrollments, including UCD, Conner said. However, some of the community colleges are up in enrollments, he said. "There is tremendous competition for students in this town," Curtis said. An enrollment management committee, of which Conner is the chairman, met Jan. 27 to discuss some initiatives to try to boost enrollment, Conner said. There is some discussion of putting the class schedule back into one of the daily Denver newspapers, he
said. The cost: $35,000 to $40,000, he said. "It reminds people that Metro's here," Conner said. MSCD has gone through unrestrained enrollment periods, he said. "Then, in the mid-'80s we took a pretty good dip," he said. "These things come and go in a cyclical fashion ... We're trying to decide what's a good size for us right now, what our target should be. We can stand to grow some." MSCD President Sheila Kaplan is considering inviting one or more independent consultants to the college in March to help administrators look at enrollment management issues, Conner said. "It's hard to service students when you get past a certain point," Conner said. "We're crawling up the walls in terms of classrooms [space]." At the moment there is not a correlation between state funding and enrollment figures, he said. "You do lose some tuition," Conner said. Lower enrollment could have a negative impact in the future, he said. There is talk in the legislature of returning to full-time equivalency as a factor in judging how muc:h funding goes to an institution, he said.