News

GTCC Makes Adjustments to Serve Record Enrollment

JAMESTOWN - Guilford Technical Community College officials have made some major adjustments in order to serve a record enrollment of 13,520 curriculum students, which is an increase of 2,233 students over a year ago.

In some cases, class sizes have been increased and more adjunct instructors have been hired to fill the instructional needs, according to executive vice-president Cuyler McKnight. "Fortunately, the governor and legislature did not eliminate our enrollment growth funding this year," he said. "For GTCC, this helped us meet some needs in some areas that funding had been reduced or eliminated in our budget."

"We have had faculty step-up and serve additional students and take on additional classes," McKnight said. "With continued maximum effort from our faculty and staff, we will still meet our objectives by conservatively managing our funding," he said.
The current semester marks the 12th consecutive year that enrollment has increased at GTCC, said Alison Wiers, associate vice-president for student learning and success. The latest enrollment figures more than double the 6,244 students that enrolled in the curriculum program a dozen years ago.

Classes started Aug. 17 on the college's campuses in Jamestown, High Point and Greensboro. The current enrollment was certified Aug. 27, and represents an increase of 19.8 percent over the 2008 first semester enrollment of 11,287, Wiers said.
"The enrollment increase is a clear indication that members of our community have been affected by the economy," Wiers said. "Many have been victims of downsizing in the workplace, and they need to develop new skills in hopes of getting a job in a new field," she said.

Most sought after programs at the college by those looking for new job opportunities are automotive, culinary, computer fields, health programs and business administration, Wiers said. "GTCC's variety of technical programs offers practical job opportunities," she said.

"We anticipated making adjustments because we usually see a substantial increase in enrollment during a recession period," McKnight said. "However, the magnitude of the increase was greater than we initially expected. We have been able to adequately prepare to serve our student population," McKnight said.

Enrollment for all programs at the college is projected to be about 40,000, which includes at least 5,000 students in basic skills programs and another 22,000-plus in continuing education. McKnight said he doesn't anticipate any of these programs being curtailed. "We will attempt to continue to offer a full range of training classes. Though our students will not see a change in our funding structure, other than the increased tuition and fees as determined by the legislature, we will have to account for the funding in a different manner.

"In the budget we received last week, funding was completely dropped for community service programs," McKnight said. Those programs will still be available but no longer will be free of charge, he said.

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