Enrollment is among new chancellor’s challenges

Barely a month into her new job as LSUE chancellor, Kimberly “Kim” Russell says her job is to turnaround a school where enrollment has slumped.
“LSUE has been on the decline since about 2010,” she said.
“That’s not unusual for most community colleges,” she added.
The fall enrollment numbers came in at 2,509 students, down 8.4 percent from a year ago and 27 percent down from 2010 when there were 3,431 students.
“Next September I would like enrollment up at at least 10 percent,” Russell said. “I would like to see us have developed at least five new programs and really just see a turnaround.”
Russell began her job on Sept. 1 and says she is still gathering information, including where those missing students went.
Community college enrollment usually increases when the economy is bad, she said.
“At about 2011, we began emerging from the recession,” she said. That meant students left school and returned to work, she said.
“Over the last five or six years LSUE has been in decline in enrollment,” she said. “I don’t think we’ve really kept up with what the needs are in our community and in our region. I think that’s what we are going to address.”
One of LSUE’s strengths is students can transfer credits to four-year colleges in the state, including Louisiana State University.
LSUE has been strong in sciences, nursing and health sciences, she said. “But there is so much room for LSUE to expand in workforce related areas.”
In Louisiana, 59 percent of students leaving high school continue their education, but nationally the average is 65 to 66 percent, she said.
“We have work to do here in Louisiana, in particular in south Louisiana,” she said. In some cases only 45 percent of the state’s high school graduates continue their education at two- or four-year institutions, she said.
Russell plans take LSUE’s story to high schools to meet principals, counselors and students.
“Today students regardless of what they want to do for a career are going to need some type of post-secondary training ...,” she said.
“This is a great place to begin,” she said. “We just really have to remind the community that we are here and really begin to offer some of those two year or certificate programs to get students out into the workforce quicker or off alternative pathways.”
Price is a point in LSUE’s favor. Russell said in an email that 12 hours with fees at LSUE costs $3,522 per year. At McNeese the cost would be $7,000 and at LSU Alexandria it is $6,100. LSU Baton Rouge would cost $9,660.
However, 12 credit hours at South Louisiana Community College with fees would cost $2,019, its website states. The college has campuses at Abbeville, Crowley, Franklin, Lafayette, New Iberia, Opelousas, St. Martinville and Ville Platte.
“I do think this institution became much more inwardly focused,” she said.
The outreach into the community wasn’t as strong as it could have been, she said.
“We need to reach to our K-12s and find out what they need so we can create better pathways for students to more easily come to LSUE,” she said.
LSUE also needs to build on its strengths such as its health sciences.
“I think there are a lot of things we can do to piggyback on our strengths so we can increase who we serve,” she said.
Russell also cites LSUE’s faculty as its major strength. “Most of our faculty have Ph.D.s. They have done some sort of research in their field.”
The student to teacher ratio around 20 to 1, she said.
LSUE is about to launch an engineering program that allows students to move from the Eunice campus to Baton Rouge, she said.
Other strengths she cited are certification passing rates in health science programs that reach 100 percent.
Workforce development is something a two-year institution should address, she said. She’s met with economic development leaders, she said.
Russell said she is meeting with representatives from four-year institutions, K-12s and holding focus groups on campus.
“I’m trying to get an assessment internally as well as externally.”
She thinks she as met everyone who works at LSUE.
“I think they feel like they have done things the same way for a long time. So they are looking for change. They are looking for something new. They want to see growth,” she said.
“Our faculty are excited to have students in clasess. They are going to be even more excited when more students are in those classes. I think all of us collectively have to work together in order to be successful and to move forward,” she said.
LSUE is about to have a new website, which is developed by the company that does the LSU site, she said.
LSUE will grow closer to LSU through shared services, which eliminate duplication, she said.
“I think the strength of the LSU brand is going to help LSUE as well,” she said. “The quality you receive at LSU Baton Rouge should be the same as what you receive in Eunice. The students deserve it.”
The reality for students is their education dollars are going further.
“I know this is a challenge. I’m up for it,” she said.