JCCC: ‘Fitting everyone in has been a challenge’

Hope Riekenberg, a second-year student from Lenexa, said it is “very evident” there are more people at Johnson County Community College this year.

“The halls are fuller,” Riekenberg said. “There is never parking, and you kind of have to fight for it. All of my classes are full, even my nighttime class.”

“In fact, the numbers are even more drastic than what we were seeing this fall term,” Calaway said. “Trying to fit everybody in has been a challenge.”

The official enrollment tally will not be taken until next week, but numbers are expected to decline only slightly from the preliminary count, said Dennis Day, vice president of student services. The number of credit hours students are taking has also increased, by about 14.4 percent, he said.

“We find we have students taking on more of a (class) load, which means they are making choices that would make JCCC their first choice of institution as opposed to maybe a secondary before,” he said. “A lot of times it was supplemental education or something they couldn’t get anywhere else. I think it is truly because of economic times.”

One of the main challenges the growth creates for the college is accommodating more students with fewer faculty and staff members, Day said. In the last year, about 70 part-time and 20 full-time positions have been eliminated because of budget cuts.

“We’ve been able to work with the students at a pretty consistent level, but we’ve had longer lines, longer waits on the phone,” Day said. “…When you’ve had time to take a breath; you don’t get those times now.”

The college has worked to accommodate the extra students through several strategies, including adding class sections where appropriate, said Bill Osborn, associate vice president of instruction.

In some cases, officials allowed one or two students to join classes that had already reached maximum capacity, he said.

“That is something we do very carefully and conservatively,” Osborn said. “We’re not considering that to be a permanent measure.”

The college added more sections of online courses and more “blended courses,” which are courses taught both online and in the classroom, he said.

The college also continues to rely on remote locations to provide more space, such as the KU Edwards Campus, 12600 Quivira Road.

“It’s been a team effort from across the campus,” Osborn said.

Though there are some students who did not get their first-choice classes, “that would not be atypical of any semester,” Osborn said.

Third-semester student Kyle Odom, Olathe, said it has only been “a slight inconvenience to have the campus so full.”

It was the first semester he could only enroll in classes based on what was still open.

“The last two semesters I was able to get all classes on the first try,” Odom said.

He had to switch his schedule from afternoon to morning classes, he said.

“(My counselor) still helped me get into classes that are important for what I’m trying to achieve,” Odom said. “It’s just the way things go.”

As the upward enrollment and downward budget trends continue, board of trustees member Lynn Mitchelson said he hopes the college can continue to accommodate the growth and not have any more layoffs. One possible solution, is seeking more federal funding, he said.

“We know the state is not going to have additional money and may have to cut back some more,” Mitchelson said. “We’re going to re-double our efforts at the federal level to attract additional grants.”

He said the trustees would be unlikely to raise the college’s mill levy.

“I think our trustees are pretty well-unified in addressing this challenging time and they don’t want to see deterioration in the quality education,” Mitchelson said. “We’re going to do everything we can to deliver the same quality we have been delivering.”

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