Gavilan College Board of Trustee members anticipate an increase
in enrollment this year. Classes are already filling up at the main
Gilroy campus and both off-campus sites with students taking larger
class loads.
By LORI STUENKEL
Gavilan College Board of Trustee members anticipate an increase in enrollment this year. Classes are already filling up at the main Gilroy campus and both off-campus sites with students taking larger class loads.
Gavilan is expected to achieve a growth rate of 5 percent, the fifth highest among the state’s 73 community college districts.
Registration so far is up by 331 students compared to the same time last year, according to Marty Johnson, vice president of instructional services.
As of Wednesday, 3,832 students were registered for classes.
While the increase sets the school up for a significant 16 percent enrollment increase, more students are enrolling earlier in the process, so enrollment is expected to slow down significantly as registration comes to a close in two weeks.
Students are signing up for classes sooner because there are 100 fewer classes available this fall than last fall due to budget cuts made by the state.
“What (the increased enrollment) shows us is that people are interested in coming to this school,” Johnson said.
Last fall, 6,401 total students were registered.
Even if Gavilan achieves a 5 percent growth rate – the rate at which the state expects Gavilan to grow – school officials only expect to be awarded a “growth bonus” for half that amount.
“The state of California has not allocated enough money for it to fully fund the growth rate of community colleges,” said Gavilan College President Steve Kinsella.
He said this is the third such annual shortfall in a row.
Gavilan will still receive base funding according to the number of students enrolled.
To accommodate all potential students, Gavilan officials are planning future facility development with the help of the Gilroy voters.
Gavilan recruited a community advisory group to sound off on some tentative project plans that could be funded by a bond.
Kinsella and Trustee Leonard Washington met Saturday with the group, which will help the college develop projects on the Gilroy campus as well as the satellite sites in Morgan Hill and Hollister.
Around 20 of the 45 invited community members attended the meeting, and Kinsella called the group a good cross section of community interests.
Still in the information-gathering stage of the process, the community group will eventually provide the board a specific list of recommendations and concerns regarding development, Kinsella said. This will help the board create their bond measure proposal early next year.
Lori Stuenkel is a staff writer for the Gilroy Dispatch
