Enrollment Up At PHCC

BROOKSVILLE - As the rest of the economy heads south, student enrollment at Pasco-Hernando Community College is heading north.

Despite recent legislation mandating a 7.86 percent tuition spike, course enrollment for fall 2008 is running more than 9 percent ahead of numbers from a year ago, with courses and sections being continuously added to accommodate student demand.

By the time fall classes begin in August, officials expect enrollment to be up to 15 percent higher than last year's fall head count of 8,355 students.

Timothy Beard, the school's vice president of student development and enrollment management, cited historic trends that coincide with downturns in the economy.

"With people losing their jobs or not being able to (find work), a great percentage is due to students wanting to go back to school and gain greater credentials and education status," he said.

Other reasons include students increasingly not being able to afford to go straight from high school to more expensive four-year schools.

Beard said he'd also like to think the increase may be due to the school's health-care programs, particularly the highly competitive Licensed Practical Nurse and Registered Nurse programs, both of which require a high grade point average and have lengthy waiting lists.

During the last seven years, the school's enrollment has increased by nearly 50 percent, with more students across the state enrolling in similar degree programs at Florida's 28 public two-year schools.

The Pasco County-based school has a Spring Hill and Brooksville campus, with officials slated to break ground on a new Spring Hill campus off U.S. 19 later this year. When the new campus opens in summer 2010, officials will close the other Spring Hill location and focus on increasing programming and course offerings, Beard said.

"We're excited. (That) campus is really going to take off over the next five to 10 years," he said.

Beard said the increase in tuition costs have not negatively affected enrollment at the school. In fact, PHCC's student government association backed the legislation mandating the increase, he said.

The school also has a partnership with the Hernando County School District that allows high school students to dual enroll for free, or earn both high school and college credit hours by attending classes at PHCC. Each year, Hernando students graduate high school with an Associate of Arts degree through dual enrollment.

In addition to a $25 application fee, Florida residents pay $74.16 per credit hour for classes, while non-Florida residents pay $279.90 per credit hour.

A fulltime student is defined as a student registered for 12 or more college credit hours in a fall, spring or summer term. The PHCC average credit hour load per student was 8.6 semester hours in fall 2006, officials said.

And student enrollment isn't the only group increasing. With layoffs throughout the county and state, officials have also seen an influx of job-seekers hoping to work at the school.

"We have seen the application pool increasing in a lot of areas, particularly for instruction (positions)," Beard said.

The school's fall term begins Aug. 25, with registration continuing through Aug. 24. For more information, course schedules or online registration, go to www.phcc.edu.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.