This fall, Berkshire Community College says it’s seen a historic 17% increase in enrollment. That’s the highest year-to-year jump for the student body since the college started tracking the metric in 1991, and the largest since a roughly 14% boost in 2009. Headquartered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the region’s only community college will have more than 1,600 students heading into 2024. The news follows the unveiling of MassReconnect, a new $20 million state program that allows commonwealth residents over 25 and anyone pursuing a nursing degree to attend community college for free. Most of the gains come from dually enrolled high school students, pre-nursing students, and liberal arts and business administration students. Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Adam Klepetar tells WAMC that the college is also seeing increases in traditionally marginalized communities as its student body expands.
KLEPETAR: Our headcount is up 17% year-to-year from fall 2022 to fall 2023, which is really exciting. It's the largest increase that BCC has on record from any year-to-year. We’re up 9% in credits. And then we're really excited because we put a lot of time and energy trying to recruit and retain students who come from traditionally marginalized populations, and we're up nearly 6% Black or African American students, 28% in Latinx students, 20% in students who have two or more races, and then we're a pretty healthy in white students as well, nearly 17%. So, it’s really a really good fall for us.
WAMC: Now, what do you attribute these increases to?
I think it's a bit of a perfect storm. I think it's a lot of hard work by our team and our faculty and staff to work with the students that we have to keep them engaged on campus. I think that we've done a really good job telling our story about why BCC is a good place to go. And clearly, we were really lucky that the legislators made community college free for students who are 25 and older, and we saw a nice increase at the end of the summer of adult students choosing to enroll with us.
What does this mean moving forward for BCC? Does more robust student numbers mean more access to state funding?
I mean, there's a state funding formula, and part of that is based on enrollment, and with a new administration, I guess we'll see how that shakes out. A chunk of our revenue comes from student tuition and fees, and because of the MassReconnect money, there's also a scholarship that makes community college free for nursing students that the state is providing us with money to help support those students. So even as the revenue comes in for us, the student is seeing a free community college. And even students who don't fit into either of those programs, the state’s really come through with an increase in MASSGrant. So, lots of programs that that do bring dollars into the college, but also make it the most affordable option for students in Berkshire County.
Can you break down the kind of messaging that BCC offers to students from traditionally marginalized groups who maybe have not been the focus of this kind of admissions push in the past?
Yeah, I mean, I think we just really want to tell a story of inclusion. I think that we work really hard on having a curriculum that that teaches a variety of different voices and a variety of different topics that we may not have seen in higher education a decade or so ago. I think that we put a lot of resources into internal support structures and wraparound services dedicated to students from marginalized populations. We have this wonderful TRIO program where first-generation students, students of color, students who need accommodations get extra support. We were given a really nice chunk of money through a program called SUCCESS, and we've put all of that money into coaching in a variety of different ways, including an office that is focused on working with students from marginalized populations. So, I think our messaging is about support, about how this is a place where students can come to kind of set their goals and really thrive and not do it alone, that there are a lot of people here to help them.
And let's bring it all home Adam- what does this all mean for BCC? I mean, historically speaking, there have been dips in enrollment, this is obviously a very strong stat to share. What does this mean in the full historical context to BCC?
Well, I think we're back to enrollment that is above where we were going into the pandemic. And community colleges across the country were hit really hard during the pandemic, and I think that this puts us back into a situation where we can where we can grow and get back into the same type of enrollment situation that we were in at the beginning of the 2010s, which is really what we're built for. So, I think we feel like we're well staffed, I think that the campus has had a lot of projects and it's a great place for students to be and to learn. And this kind of enrollment, if we can stabilize here and grow just a little bit, we'll be really be right-sized.
