Spring enrollment increase similar to fall's
Vishmaa Ramsaroop-Briggs
Issue date: 1/27/10 Section: News
As another semester starts, students can't help but notice the large amount of new students roving the hallway.
Choice classes are almost impossible to get into, and good luck parking in the first lot even if you arrive at 8:00 a.m. For returning students from the 2008-2009 school year it's obvious that enrollment has increased significantly each semester since.
With a 13 percent enrollment increase in fall, Madison Area Technical College is staring at another double-digit enrollment increase for spring.
"We're expecting it to be 12 plus percent," said Diane K. Walleser, Director of Marketing and Enrollment Development.
The boosted spring enrollment count may somewhat be linked to interim, which is also tied to the spring enrollment count, explained Jennifer Hoege, Enrollment Services Manager. The 14 percent number that has been publicized is comparing last spring's enrollment to this year's.
According to Hoege, they saw an enrollment increase this summer and, "we knew that the students would be coming. We typically quiet down during the summer, but it was like we were on all the time," she explained.
"Prior to that, we were seeing modest (enrollment) increases," said Walleser. Before, enrollment increase was projected at two percent for each academic year, she said. "We have the crystal ball out and it's not telling us anything," Walleser said, with a laugh regarding enrollment numbers.
Compared to the entire Wisconsin Technical College System, Madison College is only behind Blackhawk Technical College in enrollment growth, according to Hoege.
For the enrollment center, being able to handle the large volume of new students efficiently has been a work in progress. Hoege has worked on improving the services and processes of the admissions, records and the financial aid departments.
A few years ago admissions was a decentralized process. "Some applicants were taking up to four-plus months to get approved," Walleser explained. Hoege worked on centralizing the admissions process and "now we have that process narrowed down to less than two weeks in many cases," Walleser said. "That's a huge improvement in turn around, with the enrollment increases we'd still be admitting people if we hadn't updated the process," Walleser said.
Choice classes are almost impossible to get into, and good luck parking in the first lot even if you arrive at 8:00 a.m. For returning students from the 2008-2009 school year it's obvious that enrollment has increased significantly each semester since.
With a 13 percent enrollment increase in fall, Madison Area Technical College is staring at another double-digit enrollment increase for spring.
"We're expecting it to be 12 plus percent," said Diane K. Walleser, Director of Marketing and Enrollment Development.
The boosted spring enrollment count may somewhat be linked to interim, which is also tied to the spring enrollment count, explained Jennifer Hoege, Enrollment Services Manager. The 14 percent number that has been publicized is comparing last spring's enrollment to this year's.
According to Hoege, they saw an enrollment increase this summer and, "we knew that the students would be coming. We typically quiet down during the summer, but it was like we were on all the time," she explained.
"Prior to that, we were seeing modest (enrollment) increases," said Walleser. Before, enrollment increase was projected at two percent for each academic year, she said. "We have the crystal ball out and it's not telling us anything," Walleser said, with a laugh regarding enrollment numbers.
Compared to the entire Wisconsin Technical College System, Madison College is only behind Blackhawk Technical College in enrollment growth, according to Hoege.
For the enrollment center, being able to handle the large volume of new students efficiently has been a work in progress. Hoege has worked on improving the services and processes of the admissions, records and the financial aid departments.
A few years ago admissions was a decentralized process. "Some applicants were taking up to four-plus months to get approved," Walleser explained. Hoege worked on centralizing the admissions process and "now we have that process narrowed down to less than two weeks in many cases," Walleser said. "That's a huge improvement in turn around, with the enrollment increases we'd still be admitting people if we hadn't updated the process," Walleser said.
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