MCC Reverses Enrollment Decline
September 22, 2023
Shift attributed in part to college’s efforts in aligning programs with employers’ workforce demands and expanding wraparound supports
BRIGHTON, N.Y. – Monroe Community College reports a significant year-to-year increase in student enrollment in the fall 2023 semester, reversing a 10-year downward trend at MCC.
Currently, 8,537 credit-seeking students are enrolled this fall – an increase of 3 percent from 8,283 students a year ago. Based on early official numbers, enrollment is anticipated to stabilize and steadily grow in 2024, with an estimated annual, unduplicated headcount of 19,000 students projected.
The shift in the enrollment trend is attributed in part to MCC’s redoubled efforts in attracting and retaining students in lockstep with MCC’s comprehensive Strategic Enrollment Management Plan and the college’s Vision2027 strategic plan. Concerted efforts have focused on aligning programs with regional employers’ workforce demands that lead to family-sustaining wages post-completion as well as on expanding wraparound supports – and increasing students’ access to these supports – to better meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population.
MCC’s collective efforts in increasing enrollment are showing nascent outcomes for at least one academic program: MCC’s optical systems technology program has seen enrollment steadily grow since fall 2020 – and has experienced record graduation rates in 2021-22 and 2022-23 – at a time when skilled advanced manufacturing technicians are in critical demand in the Finger Lakes region and worldwide. This fall semester, 114 students enrolled in the program.
New supports, services and resources for students within the past year include:
- Alignment of offerings – including those at the Finger Lakes Workforce Development (FWD) Center on MCC’s Downtown Campus – with the region’s workforce needs. New programs include robotics certification, Geospatial Information Science and Technology A.S. degree, and Hospital & Community Mental Health Tech A.A.S. degree.
- Expanded tutoring and academic coaching.
- A liaison for students experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
- An additional mental health counselor to meet students’ social-emotional needs.
- A health and wellness counselor who organizes offerings college-wide on topics covering suicide prevention, mental health awareness, health education and more.
- Money Smart Financial Coaching Program to help students improve their financial health.
- Personal Librarian service that provides customized outreach to first-year students – in person or via email, phone or chat – throughout a semester to help them achieve academic success.
- Expanded holistic supports and referrals to community resources for MCC student-parents, a majority of whom are single mothers.
- Women of Excellence program focused on helping historically underrepresented populations, particularly first-generation students and those from low-income families, successfully navigate in and outside the classroom.
- Housing commitments extended to 12 months in on-campus residence halls, so students can stay during holiday, winter and spring breaks.