GREENPORT — Student enrollment at Columbia-Greene Community College is up 12% over last year, bucking a trend of colleges in the last few years seeing a decline spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Enrollment as of Friday stood at 938, compared to 826 on the same date a year ago, College President Carlee Drummer said.
“We’re happy to say that our enrollment numbers are very strong on the first day of classes, with an eight-and-a-half percent increase in head count over the start of the spring 2022 semester,” Drummer said. “This is the second semester in a row that the college has seen robust growth in its enrollment numbers.”
Final, official enrollment figures will not be known until February, Drummer said.
The pandemic has enabled the college to expand its course list and how the courses are delivered.
“Because of COVID, we’ve been able to adapt to what students want with respective course delivery,” Drummer said. “We’re offering a variety of learning modulations, whether it’s in person or hybrid/hiFlex that gives people flexibility for studying. Secondly, our reputation speaks for itself — we’re a warm, friendly, helping environment. Students feel comfortable here. We have surveys to prove that experience is always first-rate.
”They love the fact that we’re small, they get personal attention and we deeply care for our students. Every single person on this campus plays a role in the student’s success experience and everyone takes great pride in that. We’re very committed to our students.”
With a new semester comes new goals and Drummer listed them as the college enters the new year.
“My number one goal is student success,” she said. “We want to make sure that every student that walks through the door, whether they’re walking through the door to earn a degree or certificate or just for personal enrichment, we want to make sure that we help students obtain their goals. We’re forced on academic programs to make sure we’re offering what is needed in our community with respect to our workforce development. We take great pride in supporting diversity and inclusion.
“What we’re focused on is trying to attract more diverse students and staff to the college. We have a commitment to that. Enrollment will be at the top of the list, we want to keep it going, and keep it strong. And last but not least, improvements to our technology infrastructure.”
Freshman Tyler Strong was optimistic about the start of the semester.
“Since I’ve been here the professors have been nice,” Strong said. “It’s only been a week, but I think this will be a successful semester.”
Second-year student Terrell Ellis, like so many others, didn’t have a proper high school graduation because of the pandemic. Despite this, he expressed his elation about the college increasing its enrollment numbers and his goals for the new semester.
“I didn’t have a high school graduation because of COVID,” Ellis said. “When I came here last year, a lot of people were still concerned about catching the virus and some of my classes barely had 10 people in them. I’m happy the college has seen an increase in their enrollment numbers. Hopefully, this news will encourage more people to attend the school.”