11th Blog Entry - 2019 Kansas Board of Regents Higher Education Enrollment Report
This week, KBOR released its report identifying total credit hours generated for the State universities and the public two-year sector colleges. The report also recognizes the impact of (online) distance education (DE) credit hours. The report reveals multiple points of interest:
- DE increased from 2018 for all universities with the exception of FHSU;
- There was not a marked change in overall credit hours from 2018 to 2019 for all universities;
- Barton increased DE by 5% and is second to Johnson in most DE credit hours generated for 2019;
- Barton moved from fourth to the third highest in total credit hours generated of the 19 community colleges;
- 5 of 19 community colleges gained in the number of total credit hours from 2018 to 2019;
- 9 community colleges generate less than 40k credit hours in 2019
- DE credit totals for Allen, Barton, and Colby constitute over 50% of total credits generated;
- 8 community colleges have 2019 DE percentage of total credits 30.05% or less;
- 8 community colleges have 2019 DE percentage of total credits between 31%-50%;
- 4 of 7 technical colleges increased overall credit hours from 2018 to 2019;
- Overall, technical colleges are less engaged in DE than community colleges;
- With the support of other information not included in the attachment, Wichita Tech gain in (HS and healthcare) 2019 total credit hours is impacting Butler and Hutchinson 2019 total credits and this will likely continue for the time being; and
- Community colleges produce 86% of 2019 total two year sector credit hours as compared to 14% for technical colleges.
The above points reinforce themes that I have raised in prior blog entries:
- DE continues to grow in all State sectors of higher education and this requires Barton to integrate advances in DE technology, cost savings, and accessibility;
- There is a statewide decline in the number of potential students;
- An institution cannot limit itself in outreach to potential students – look beyond your designated area of service to include statewide, out-of-state, and international;
- Discussion continues within policy leader ranks regarding the merger of institutions; and
- Barton must continue to position itself among the top 5 community colleges.