Student enrollment at MCCC is down 16% this fall, putting the college’s financial stability into question for the long term, particularly when state funding to community colleges is not being provided.
Based on student preferences, revealed through data gathered in a survey last May, it’s possible that offering more face to face classes could help stop the enrollment free fall. For the 111 students surveyed who said they had decided not to come back to MCCC this fall, 55% said the reason was that they didn’t want to do mostly online learning.
Out of the 573 students who said they were planning to return to MCCC this fall, 54% said their preference for instructional style was face-to-face (including hybrid) even if that meant they might have to go back to fully remote instruction if the state went back into lockdown.
At the moment, MCCC is offering 10-15% of classes at least partly in person, in particular hard sciences that require lab time and also game design and arts classes that can be distanced. Safety precautions require anyone coming to campus to fill out a symptom tracking form every day. Masks are also mandatory and face shields must be used for lab classes.
When asked about plans for the spring instruction, John Simone, Assistant Dean of Students and the co-leader of the task force organizing return to campus, he said, “The draft of the plan for the spring semester is done…The draft plan is to increase the number of hybrid classes by 5 to 10%.”
When asked about the college’s finances playing a role in the decision to add more face to face or hybrid classes in the spring, MCCC president Dr. Jianping Wang said, “Finance is not so much a concern for us at Mercer. Not because we have unlimited resources, but because we have done a very good job of planning early. It is not the lack of money that we aren’t opening, it is the lack of assurance of safety due to a lack of a cure.”
Dean Kevin Duffy who is co-chairing the restart task force with Dean Simone says, “We don’t necessarily have to offer more face to face classes, we just have to make sure we are getting all of our classes fully enrolled and offer the modality that students prefer.”
However, classes may not see an increase in enrollment as covid numbers in NJ are back on the rise. According to the New York Times database, “Over the past week, there have been an average of 835 cases per day, an increase of 35 percent from the average two weeks earlier.”
Outbreaks of covid-19 on college campuses have contributed to the rise in cases. For example, Monmouth University had an outbreak of 39 cases in September that ballooned to 291 by October.
Even non-residential colleges have been affected. For example, Middlesex Vocational and Technical School has already dealt with positive infections. NJ.com reports, “A freshman…tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting district officials to switch to all-remote learning for two weeks.”
Mercer has not had to lockdown, but the college notified staff on October 12 that “a member of the campus community tested positive for COVID-19.” The email added that “The individual’s last visit to campus was on October 2, 2020,” and said that contact tracing was in progress.
Communication Professor Mitch Canter who teaches radio classes as well as public speaking said that being online for the fall has been “very rewarding,” in terms of the public speaking class. However, he says, his technical classes are another story.
“I’ve been making instructional videos in advance for these lessons so instead of just meeting and having a discussion and listening to instructions…It has been a lot of extra work… but if I have to do this again in the spring at least all these videos and projects are created already.”
Colleen Heffernan, a second year Biology major said, “I would prefer in person classes [in the spring] because online classes are very impersonal and it’s hard to learn maths and sciences online.”
College president Dr. Jianping Wang says “We understand and hear you [students] loud and clear that you would love to have more in person contact with your instructors.”
However, she says there is a lot to balance. “On one hand students want more in person time with faculty, but on the other, in no way shape or form is this pandemic dying down. We are trying to balance these two: the need to be in person, [and] the need to protect your safety and the instructors’ safety.”
In terms of maintaining finances, Dr. Wang says, “We are also doing other things to generate revenue. For example, the college renovated the baseball fields before covid-19 hit us. It is outstanding and now that the state allows practices to happen, we are now renting the baseball and soccer fields out which has brought in revenue.”
Other revenue stabilizers are also being considered.
“We want to give you as many choices as possible, we are even considering some classes having a late start because then the weather might be warmer so you might be able to hold your in person meeting outdoors,” Dr. Wang said.
