CCCC has decline in enrollment

Two memorandums of agreement pertaining to the acceptance of Coronavirus Relief Funds and the extension of sublease agreements for the Geary County campus buildings were among the items approved by the Cloud County Community College board of trustees during its regular meeting on Tuesday night.
The board also heard a report on enrollment for the fall 2020 semester from interim president and vice president of administrative services Amber Knoettgen.
Knoettgen reported to the board that enrollment is down about 14 percent from the previous year.
“It is statewide, so it is to be expected. Part of it is due to COVID. We have reduced numbers in housing. Some (students) have shifted to online, so we have seen an increase in online enrollment. We have also seen an increase in concurrent, which is good,” Knoettgen said.
Knoettgen said that the college is looking at scheduling, and how that may need to be adjusted for the spring 2021 semester because of the enrollment shift.
Cloud County budgeted for a five percent decrease in enrollment and a five percent decrease in state funding.
“Although not ideal, we have budgeted for an enrollment decline, not this significant, but we are doing things to help improve that,” Knoettgen said. “Not that it is a relief that everybody is down, but it does help a little bit.”
Knoettgen said that the college will be looking at ways to be proactive in its marketing.
With the admissions department doing virtual high school visits and attending virtual college fairs, Knoettgen said that the visit numbers are similar to those of last year.
Enrollment for the spring semester begins on October 19.
“So these decisions that we are going to have to make are less than a month away with starting enrollment,” Knoettgen said.
Knoettgen also informed the board that Cloud County has had 16 cases of COVID-19 on the Concordia campus with two of those being currently active.
The Geary County campus has had one positive case that is currently active.
“Although those numbers are not easy to face, we have done an excellent job of responding to those cases after the first case became positive. Every positive case after that was already in isolation. So that is great news for us,” Knoettgen said.
Knoettgen praised staff members for being able to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“I think it is a testament to their hard work to have kept those numbers low,” Knoettgen said.
In action taken during the meeting, the board approved a memorandum of agreement with Cloud County to accept Coronavirus Relief Funds.
The college intends to accept relief funds administered by the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas and the Cloud County board of commissioners. The funds total $113,926.85, and will provide direct reimbursement for expenses resulting from response and mitigation efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 within the community since March 1, 2020.
A memorandum of agreement for acceptance of Coronavirus Relief Funds by the Geary County campus, from Geary County, was also approved.
The board also approved waiving Policy F7 and allowing the college administration to make purchases greater than $10,000, with respect to Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds, without seeking prior board approval.
The college is required to use the funds to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and accommodate technology needs to effectively deliver distance education, which includes insuring remote connectivity.
Extending the sublease agreement with Geary County for buildings A, B, C and D on the Geary County campus to September 30, 2022, was approved by the board.
Cloud County entered the sublease agreement on buildings A, B and C on June 24, 1997. The original sublease on building D was entered into on October 1, 2012.
The board approved an information and technology security policy that defines the college's information technology security framework and is intended to ensure that the systems and data are protected from threats to their confidentiality, integrity and availability.
Knoettgen announced to the board during the meeting that the college's TRIO Student Support Services program had been awarded a grant that will provide $275,102 per year for five years.
TRIO is a federally funded program that helps traditionally under-represented students graduate from Cloud County and transfer to a four-year institution.
The board met in three executive sessions totaling 55 minutes, including 20 minutes with Knoettgen, attorney Justin Ferrell and human resources director Chris Wilson for the purpose of consultation with legal counsel, 20 minutes for non-elected personnel and then 15 minutes with Ferrell for non-elected personnel.