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KPC begins fall semester with slightly lower enrollment

 

Classes started last week for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. The big kids got their school year started this week at Kenai Peninsula College.

KPC Director Gary Turner says enrollment is down about three percent from last year, due largely to a slagging economy.

“That’s not too bad. All University of Alaska campuses are down. It’s the economy. For us particularly, it’s the loss of oil and gas jobs on the Peninsula. It’s not just the jobs, but the families that might have moved elsewhere. So we have fewer students that way, but not too bad considering everything that’s gone on with the budget crisis in our state.”

The budget mess, Turner says, could have been worse for KPC. He says the college didn’t get hit as hard this year as it has the past three budget cycles, losing about $270,000 compared to reductions in excess of $700,000 in the past.

“And it’s not having any impact on us. We have carry-forward funds that we will utilize for that deficit. I don’t foresee, and I told my faculty and staff, I don’t foresee any reduction in contracts or any layoffs or anything of that nature at this time.”

Some cuts are being planned, though. The college’s extension office in Anchorage that provides access to the process and petroleum technology program will be closed next May. Some of that is finances, but Turner says online classes show no signs of slowing down. More than half of the credits students earn are on the web.

 

“As we know, it’s a digital generation. Students are looking for online courses a lot. (It’s) either family ties or family obligations or job obligations and sometimes it’s hard to get to campus. So across the university, we’re all seeing an increase in distance (enrollment).

Turner says the online aspect, while growing, is facing more and more competition from other institutions Outside.