Triton College is expected to end the fiscal year about $500,000 short of its enrollment revenue goal.
The school is not anticipated to hit the roughly $28.8 million it was projected to generate in 2018 from tuition and fees, although the college is still projected to bring in more than in recent years, despite declining enrollment, according to Randy Barnette, Triton’s senior executive of public affairs.
Triton Chairman Mark Stephens addressed the shortfall at a Board of Trustees meeting in February.
“We have got to do a better job,” Stephens said. “… Half a million dollars is real money, folks.”
A spring 2018 enrollment report shows the college’s current enrollment at 84,354 credit hours, a drop of 2,528 credit hours from the same report in spring 2014, according to a statement from Barnette.
With the school on track to bring in about $28.3 million in enrollment revenue, 2018 tuition and fees are projected to generate thousands more than in past years. Last year’s enrollment revenue totaled about $27.5 million, and enrollment revenue was about $25.1 million in fiscal year 2013, Barnette stated. A tuition increase of $5 per credit hour took effect at the start of the current school year.
Each annual total in enrollment revenue represents a shortfall based on projections of flat enrollment, according to Barnette.
“In recent years, decreasing student enrollments have presented further difficulties in forecasting revenue for community colleges across the state, including Triton College,” he stated.
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Barnette attributed the dropping enrollment to a smaller, aging population, as well as an emergence of for-profit and online colleges.
Triton is projecting flat enrollment in the next fiscal year.
Barnette stated the school is attempting to increase enrollment and retention by seeking community input on Triton’s programs and services, as well as partnering with local high schools to increase college readiness and strengthen dual credit offerings. Triton is also launching a new program in professional automotive career training in the fall and has a new sterile processing technician program.
At the same board meeting where Stephens spoke about the enrollment revenue shortfall, trustees voted to gradually increase tuition for some of the school’s health care programs over the next three years. Students in certain programs will see a per-credit tuition spike of $77 in the coming fall.
Anna Bybee-Schier is a freelancer.