TOPEKA —Preliminary census day figures released Thursday by the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) show a decrease in full-time equivalency (FTE) student enrollment at public universities and an increase in FTE enrollment at community colleges and technical colleges, including an increase of 20 students at Hutchinson Community College from 3,002 to 3,022 full-time equivalent students.
Overall, the system has experienced a 1.1% decline in FTE enrollment as of the 20th day fall census.
“The preliminary fall enrollment report brings mixed results and continues a systemwide trend in declining enrollment over the past five years,” said KBOR Chair Cheryl Harrison-Lee. “We must reverse that trend to meet the workforce needs of our state. The Board’s strategic plan, annual goals and budget ask are focused on initiatives that can leverage our system’s strengths and revitalize the Kansas economy.”
Across the six state universities, there was a decrease of 1,735 FTE students (-2.4 percent). Community colleges experienced an increase of 425 FTE students (1.2 percent), while technical colleges saw an increase of 57 FTE students (1.0 percent).
While the FTE student total was down, headcount increased by 1 percent systemwide. In 2020, many colleges experienced a significant decline in high school student enrollment on census day. Several colleges reported that concurrently enrolled high school student enrollment returned closer to pre-pandemic levels on census day 2021, which helped lead to a systemwide increase in headcount. However, since high school students typically take fewer credit hours per semester, the headcount increase did not translate to a systemwide increase in FTE students.
Full-time equivalency is calculated by dividing the total number of undergraduate credit hours taken in a semester by 15 and graduate credit hours by 12.