ECC Enrollment Up for Third Consecutive Semester
Enrollment at East Central College is up this fall, bucking the national trend of declining enrollment among public colleges and universities.
The number of credit hours taken by ECC students is 3 percent higher this semester compared to the Fall 2021 semester — students this semester are taking 26,640 credit hours, 772 more than the 25,868 credit hours taken last fall.
In addition, there are 35 more students this year, 2,692, compared to last fall when there were 2,657 students enrolled. That is a 1.3 percent increase in total students enrolled (headcount).
Increasing enrollment has been a challenge for colleges throughout the country, according to ECC President Dr. Jon Bauer.
“For the second year in a row — and going against the trend across the country — we have seen enrollment gains in both credit hours and headcount,” he said. “Everyone at East Central has a part in this work, and everyone should be thrilled with these results.”
ECC’s enrollment over the past two years has challenged the shift toward decreasing populations.
“Although the general trend nationwide is continued declines in enrollment,” Bauer added, “around Missouri, the results at community colleges are mixed.
“Some have seen gains this fall, while others are experiencing declines, while some are flat.”
ECC can attribute some of the enrollment increase to strong gains in dual credit enrollment, employee focus on retention and growth at ECC in Rolla.
Bauer noted that the college’s Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) is 1,776, up from 1,725 last fall. FTE is a calculation based on total credit hours that shows how many students would be attending college if they all were full time. This year’s FTE also is higher than in 2020 when it was 1,642.
A majority of ECC students are planning to complete their Associate of Arts degree, while others are looking to directly begin their career upon completion of their program’s certificate and/or degree.
Below is a list of the top 10 programs for the fall 2022 semester:
- Associate of Arts — 1186
- Nursing — 94
- Education — 81
- Industrial Engineering Tech — 50
- Computer Information System — 49
- Transfer Engineering — 48
- Fine Arts — 40
- Culinary Arts — 36
- Radiological Technology — 29.