Enrollment drops lead to departmental recruiting, tough budget calls
October 23, 2017
Enrollment drops lead to departmental recruiting, tough budget calls
As the college’s enrollment decline continues to cause budget cuts, departments have been forced to make spending adjustments and become more involved in new student recruiting.
Between fall 2016 and fall 2017, Columbia’s enrollment dropped by 808 students, leaving the college’s enrollment at 7,312, according to the fall 2017 Enrollment Report. This drop marks the college’s ninth consecutive year of enrollment decline, as reported Oct. 16 by The Chronicle.
The three departments that reported the greatest loss of students between fall 2016 and fall 2017 were the Business and Entrepreneurship Department, 134; the Communication Department, 88; and the Design Department, 78.
Senior Vice President and Provost Stan Wearden said the aftereffects of the enrollment decline are stressful for chairs and faculty because they have to make do with less than they are accustomed to.
“We have to reduce the expense budget, we try to do it in ways that are as far away from the education of students as possible,” Wearden told The Chronicle in an Oct. 11 interview. “We look at the ancillary things, many of which are good but are not directly important to educating our students.”
Mary Filice, chair of the Business and Entrepreneurship Department; Erin McCarthy, chair of the History, Humanities and Social Sciences Department; Kenneth Daley, chair of the English and Creative Writing Department; and Peter Carpenter, chair of the Dance and Theatre departments, did not respond to multiple interview requests as of press time. Chair of the Science and Mathematics Department Azar Khosravani deferred interview requests to Wearden.
The Audio Arts and Acoustics Department lost 38 of its students between fall 2016 and fall 2017, leaving enrollment this semester at 384.
Chair of the Audio Arts and Acoustics Department David Worrall said efforts within his department to increase enrollment and maintain students include prospective student tour improvements and more participation in open house.
Worrall said constructing the budget for this academic year was difficult because the department received less funding than in previous years.
“We are continuously being asked for more, to do more with less,” Worrall said. “It would be wrong for me to say it is all OK [because], it’s not; it’s really tough, and I don’t know how we would do with less. We’ve cut most of the fat out of it, and we are trying to be as conservative about it as possible.”
Worrall added that he is also concerned about budgeting the department next year with even less funding from the college.
“Of course, everyone would like more money, and we could use it, but our own sense is that we are on the way up [with enrollment],” Worrall said.
The Music Department lost only eight students between fall 2016 and fall 2017, establishing enrollment at 381 students this semester. Despite the loss, the department saw an increase in transfer students and incoming freshmen, as well as an increase for the department’s graduate program. Transfer students increased from 20 for fall 2016 to 25 in fall 2017; incoming freshman increased by 33 students for a total of 128 students; graduate students increased from 20 to 25.
Music Department Chair Rosita Sands said her department was happy to see an increase in incoming freshmen and transfer students, which she said can be attributed to the recruiting efforts of department faculty and the college’s Admissions Office.
Sands said part of this work included sending music ensembles out to perform at high schools and conferences—the gospel choir performing at city churches—and having adjunct professors teach in high school programs, which helps increase the department’s visibility to prospective students.
“More people are learning about what it is we do in the Music Department at Columbia,” Sands said. “We have a particular focus that distinguishes us from other college music programs because we focus on contemporary music and popular music. Getting that word out there for high school students who are interested in performing those styles of music—that outreach has been very helpful.”
Sands said faculty’s involvement in the recruiting process is in response to the department’s eagerness to have a role in the college’s recruitment efforts.
Alumni and visiting composers have also helped increase enrollment for the department’s graduate program, she added.
“I believe that [is caused by] word of mouth primarily generated by our alumni,” Sands said. “We also have working film composers who come to campus, and we think they’re going out and talking about what they are seeing from the inside about the program at Columbia.”
Although the Communication Department lost 88 students overall, leaving the department with 453 students for the Fall 2017 Semester, Department Chair Suzanne McBride said she likes to look at enrollment by program, not by department.
“We have [seven] programs in our department, and three of the programs actually saw an increase,” McBride said. “While the raw numbers are down, and certainly we’d like to see those be a little bit higher, I’m especially pleased to see our newer programs are attracting so much interest and students are, both new to the institution as well as already here, wanting to study in those areas.”
Majors recently added under the Communication Department include photojournalism, social media and digital strategy, and communication, which are also the three programs that grew in numbers. Photojournalism went from 22 to 28 students from fall 2016 to fall 2017, social media from zero to 19, and communication from zero to 10.
It is important for the college to find the balance between increasing enrollment and continuing faculty’s ability to conduct one-on-one teaching, McBride said.
“Hopefully we’ll see those numbers start to go up, but you also want to be careful about having too many students,” McBride said. “You want to be able to have enough students where you don’t have huge classes. You want to be able to provide that one-on-one, experiential, hands-on learning.”
According to McBride, it will take some time before the new programs lead to an overall increase in the department’s enrollment, but faculty are proactive in helping to recruit more students, including additional outreach to high schools and community colleges.
“It’s a team effort. In this department, we feel first and foremost we’re faculty who want to work with students and teach and learn alongside you all,” McBride said. “That’s our main mission, but another mission is to make sure we graduate the students that come here and continue to attract students. So we definitely feel we are partners with enrollment management, the admissions folks, and anything we can do to help with that, we will.”
The Photography Department lost a total of 31 students between fall 2016 and fall 2017, leaving enrollment this semester at 277 students.
Photography Department Chair Peter Fitzpatrick said the department’s enrollment drop is not as significant as past years, and the department has also seen an increase in transfer students. Compared to fall 2016, the department gained 10 transfer students overall.
“The Photography Department suffered from a financial crisis years ago, as you can see by the numbers from 2008 to now,” Fitzgerald said, “and I think people are getting their finances back in order. The photography industry itself is settling down and there’s more prospects.”
Fitzgerald also attributed the increase in transfer students to the department’s work with the college’s Admissions Office to recruit students.
“We’re working with admissions and marketing to do some targeted marketing efforts, which has been working, doing a lot more online marketing and less print, getting the word out into the right areas for recruitment,” Fitzgerald said. “They’ve been doing a wonderful job about that.”
Amid enrollment declines and fiscal shortfalls, Fitzgerald said the Photography Department has continued to provide resources for students through a partnership with photography company Canon, which has provided the Photography Department with printers, and is working on developing new partnerships.
“You have to start to work with partners outside the college to help with the resources,” he said.
The Design Department lost 78 students between fall 2016 and fall 2017, leaving enrollment at 599 students this semester.
Tim Cozzens, Design Department chair, said the enrollment drop was not surprising and he thinks the decline coincides with that of the college’s overall enrollment.
Some ongoing initiatives within the department to increase enrollment include sending faculty out with the Enrollment Management Office on recruiting trips, an improvement of information and tour requests from prospective students, and improved relationships with high schools and community colleges, according to Cozzens. A department-specific retention committee, which focuses on developing methods of bringing in new students and retaining current ones, was also established.
Although support and communication from deans and the provost improved compared to previous years, Cozzens said the budget reductions do cause stress within the department and have an impact on faculty and staff moral.
Some methods the department has used to reduce spending include adjusting scheduling and enrollment caps for classes as well as limiting facility operation hours during times they are underused, Cozzens said.
“Frankly, I am very concerned we are getting close to that line where there is going to be a significant increase in the challenge to keeping the cuts away from student experience,” Cozzens said. “I’m very nervous about that.”
Joseph Cancellaro, chair of the Interactive Arts and Media Department, said enrollment numbers for his department have not been low historically. The Interactive Arts and Media Department dropped eight students, leaving the department with 348 students in total, when compared to 2016’s 356 students.
“We didn’t expect to be down. We expected it to break even like we have been, maybe slight increase, but it all depends,” Cancellaro said. “There’s multiple factors involved in trying to get students to attend any college and the current climate in the nation is kind of dictating a lot of that. It’s not specifically departmentally based or Columbia College [based].”
Similar to other departments, Cancellaro said his department has been working closely with the Admissions and Enrollment Management offices to recruit students.
“We’re always trying to help the prospect of future students who are a good fit for the department,” Cancellaro said. “Internally, we have Open Houses and all of these things which we do pretty well. We do what we can on our side to help create awareness of the department and what we do.”
The Cinema and Television Arts Department—formerly the Cinema Art and Science and Television departments before their summer 2017 merger—lost 101 students between fall 2016 and fall 2017, placing this year’s enrollment at 1,747.
Eric Scholl, interim chair of the Cinema and Television Arts Department, said he was aware of the enrollment decline, so he was not surprised when he saw the drop within his department. Scholl added that he was actually pleased with the department’s enrollment and expects it will continue to drop marginally. Scholl also cited the rising enrollment of transfer students and incoming freshman as a sign of future growth.
“Even if next year is a little down, we’re going to be on the upturn soon because Columbia is a great value, and we offer a really great program here in Cinema and Television,” Scholl said.
Some of the department’s initiatives to retain students and increase enrollment include providing prospective students tours of the department and the Frequency TV studio, establishing relationships with local high schools and working with international students to attract more individuals wishing to study abroad at Columbia.
“In cinema and in television, a producer’s job is to give the best possible experience with the budget [they] have and that is what we are working on doing,” Scholl said. “A producer’s job is to solve problems and do more with less, so that’s what we are trying to do. That’s essentially what we are, producers of this experience.”
The Art and Art History Department lost 39 students between fall 2016 and fall 2017, leaving enrollment at 144 this semester.
Chair of the Art and Art History Department Duncan MacKenzie said faculty and staff members within the department have been working aggressively with the Office of Enrollment Management to recruit more potential students. The department is also planning to host galleries at local high schools, so students are more aware of Columbia.
“It gives those kids incentive to come to the city and see what kind of opportunities exist here,” MacKenzie said. “And it gives students we have now an opportunity to reflect on how far they have come, to be involved in supporting those efforts and supporting those shows. We feel it is a win/win all around.”
MacKenzie said he expected a drop in his department but, regardless of the dip, predicted the college will remain a creative and dynamic institution.
Although the tightened budget may make faculty and staff uncomfortable, MacKenzie said he thinks the department is prepared to get through the decline and that throughout the budget adjustments, students should not see any major limitation on their ability to complete coursework and create art.
“We have been impacted significantly, but our ability to offer a great education has not been impacted that significantly,” MacKenzie said. “Yes, a couple of our shops [have slightly] reduced hours, but we also went through and figured out exactly when the shop wasn’t being used to its full capacity and where we could nip and tuck to make things go as well as possible for our students and still provide an incredible, world-class education.”
