Columbia plans on creating new majors and offering concurrent enrollment, with hopes of awarding more scholarship money, among other initiatives, to help attract more students in the coming years.

Vice President of Enrollment Management Michael Joseph said affordability, accessibility and new programs are three key parts to increasing enrollment.

Since 2013, Columbia’s enrollment has decreased by  2,830 students to 7,312 students in 2017.

“What are students looking for? What is it that we could do with existing programs to re-engineer them so that they’re more relevant?” Joseph said. “We know there are things on the horizon that are going to be the programs of the future, and we should be on the forefront.”

The college is also looking to start guaranteed admissions programs for its partner schools in the spring semester, according to  Holly Herrera, associate provost for transfer initiatives and academic partnerships. 

Guaranteed admission ensures  students who fulfill the necessary requirements, and graduate from community colleges with an associate degree, are admitted into certain programs at Columbia.

“Sixty percent of students take courses at multiple institutions,” she said. “Transferring is becoming normal. It gets rid of that question, ‘Am I going to get in?’”

Columbia is also working to accept more credits from community colleges to become more transfer friendly, Herrera said.

The Office of the President has scheduled a presentation of a plan to grow enrollment from 9–10:30 a.m. Jan. 29 at Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., 8th floor.

For additional reporting, stream the Jan. 28 episode of “Chronicle Headlines” on The Columbia Chronicle’s Spotify, Apple Podcast and Podbean. 

Story developments from President and CEO Kwang Wu Kim and Vice President Enrollment Management Michaels Joseph’s Jan. 29 enrollment presentation to come.