Many -- many, so many -- years ago at North Central Michigan College, my classes were relatively full, and I could teach a Humanities class on the films of Stanley Kubrick or the history of rock 'n' roll or Stephen King books & movies and have no worries about enrollments. But over the past half-decade or so, it seems that everything at NCMC is either shifting or eroding, with fewer students and a restricted panorama of course offerings, and I feel powerless to stop the evaporation.
Granted, I'm certain that my appeal as a professor is diminishing -- I'm almost 48 (or three decades older than the age of my average student), and my presentation style of aggressive cynicism seems to connect with fewer and fewer folks -- and while I could shake some things up in the personality department w/r/t surface acting in the class room, I'm not sure that's realistic, as the landmark judicial case of Old Dogs v. New Tricks proved in 1996.
But what else could be a major contributing factor? How about cost?
When most people think about the current educational environment, their perspective is clouded by their memories of their own experiences from back in the day, like trying to talk about the current climate by citing the weather from one day 27 years ago. The 21st Century has seen many economic challenges for students that weren't present in the lives of their parents, and here are just a few examples of the financial shifts that are damaging community college enrollments.
(All data-ish snapshots are taken from the work of Suzanne Clery -- a NEA research consultant -- and Trends In College Pricing from collegeboard.org.)
*Measured in 2017 dollars, the average public two-year college tuition and fees moved from $1,590 in '87/'88 to $3,570 in '17/'18. In other words, basic college expenses for students more than doubled in just three decades.
*Another way to see that increase is through median family income. The cost of attending a public two-year college in 1995 was 13% of MFI, which increased to 18% in 2005. During that same time span (1995 to 2005), government funding went from 36% of institutional revenues to 25%. In short, one decade saw a significant decrease in funding by the government, with the family left to pick up some of the shortfall.
*In just over two decades (1993 to 2015), instructional staff on campuses rose 51%, but the number of executive, administrative, and managerial employees grew by 86%. During that time, the ratios of personnel shifted. In 1994, there were 8.2 instructional employees, 3.6 clerical employees, and 1.9 service/maintenance employees for every administrator. In 2015, those numbers decreased to 6 instructional employees, 2 clerical employees, and 1.5 service/maintenance employees per administrator.
*In 2015, instructional staff at community colleges were paid an average of $66,355 per year, while administrative staff were paid $88,137. It's clear that students are paying more for their community college education, but they're not getting more instruction for their money.
Of course, the critical thinker in me has a lot of questions about the data presented, starting with how the variables (such as "administrator") are operationalized. But in my two decades at NCMC, I've seen the full-time faculty numbers remain flat while administration and student services have increased staffing. I don't have any sweeping recommendations as to how to reduce administration and student services staffing, especially in a world of increasing demands for data and documentation (although if you look here and here and here and here, lots of people have lots of ideas), but I can certainly speak to my current and historical experiences.
Currently, I am the only full-time faculty at NCMC with a Master's in Humanities, and I'm the only full-time faculty at NCMC with a Master's in Psychology. With just our current course offerings on the books for the Fall '18 semester, I could teach more than a full load (five classes per semester) in the Humanities, and I could teach over three times a full load of Psychology courses. That's four full-time faculty loads, spread out over one full-time faculty and a handful of adjunct faculty, and that's factoring in an overall decline in course sections offered.
The current reality is simple: our students are paying more money, and we're seeing fewer students. I'm just not sure how this current system will continue. But I can at least be safe in the knowledge that, on the day after Labor Day, I'll be in the NCMC class room, dressed up in some sort of ridiculous outfit, running through the beginning of Intro Psych one more time, thankful that I can at least have control of my thin and watery slice of the educational pasty.
Granted, I'm certain that my appeal as a professor is diminishing -- I'm almost 48 (or three decades older than the age of my average student), and my presentation style of aggressive cynicism seems to connect with fewer and fewer folks -- and while I could shake some things up in the personality department w/r/t surface acting in the class room, I'm not sure that's realistic, as the landmark judicial case of Old Dogs v. New Tricks proved in 1996.
But what else could be a major contributing factor? How about cost?
When most people think about the current educational environment, their perspective is clouded by their memories of their own experiences from back in the day, like trying to talk about the current climate by citing the weather from one day 27 years ago. The 21st Century has seen many economic challenges for students that weren't present in the lives of their parents, and here are just a few examples of the financial shifts that are damaging community college enrollments.
(All data-ish snapshots are taken from the work of Suzanne Clery -- a NEA research consultant -- and Trends In College Pricing from collegeboard.org.)
*Measured in 2017 dollars, the average public two-year college tuition and fees moved from $1,590 in '87/'88 to $3,570 in '17/'18. In other words, basic college expenses for students more than doubled in just three decades.
*Another way to see that increase is through median family income. The cost of attending a public two-year college in 1995 was 13% of MFI, which increased to 18% in 2005. During that same time span (1995 to 2005), government funding went from 36% of institutional revenues to 25%. In short, one decade saw a significant decrease in funding by the government, with the family left to pick up some of the shortfall.
*In just over two decades (1993 to 2015), instructional staff on campuses rose 51%, but the number of executive, administrative, and managerial employees grew by 86%. During that time, the ratios of personnel shifted. In 1994, there were 8.2 instructional employees, 3.6 clerical employees, and 1.9 service/maintenance employees for every administrator. In 2015, those numbers decreased to 6 instructional employees, 2 clerical employees, and 1.5 service/maintenance employees per administrator.
*In 2015, instructional staff at community colleges were paid an average of $66,355 per year, while administrative staff were paid $88,137. It's clear that students are paying more for their community college education, but they're not getting more instruction for their money.
Of course, the critical thinker in me has a lot of questions about the data presented, starting with how the variables (such as "administrator") are operationalized. But in my two decades at NCMC, I've seen the full-time faculty numbers remain flat while administration and student services have increased staffing. I don't have any sweeping recommendations as to how to reduce administration and student services staffing, especially in a world of increasing demands for data and documentation (although if you look here and here and here and here, lots of people have lots of ideas), but I can certainly speak to my current and historical experiences.
Currently, I am the only full-time faculty at NCMC with a Master's in Humanities, and I'm the only full-time faculty at NCMC with a Master's in Psychology. With just our current course offerings on the books for the Fall '18 semester, I could teach more than a full load (five classes per semester) in the Humanities, and I could teach over three times a full load of Psychology courses. That's four full-time faculty loads, spread out over one full-time faculty and a handful of adjunct faculty, and that's factoring in an overall decline in course sections offered.
The current reality is simple: our students are paying more money, and we're seeing fewer students. I'm just not sure how this current system will continue. But I can at least be safe in the knowledge that, on the day after Labor Day, I'll be in the NCMC class room, dressed up in some sort of ridiculous outfit, running through the beginning of Intro Psych one more time, thankful that I can at least have control of my thin and watery slice of the educational pasty.
Comments
Post a Comment