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HCC Enrollment Soars
Up 70 percent since move to downtown Bridgeport
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Business New Haven
10/28/2002
By: BNH
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BRIDGEPORT - Housatonic Community College has once again set a new enrollment record, registering 4,5l5 students for the fall semester at its downtown Bridgeport campus.
That figure represents a 6.3-percent increase over the 4,247 students who registered last fall. It also represents a 70-percent increase over the 2,653 who registered in the fall of 1996, the college's last semester at its old campus on Barnum Avenue in the city's East End.
“We're delighted to be able to open educational doors to so many students - especially in hard economic times when a community college may be a student's only alternative,” said HCC President Janis M. Hadley. “Our goal is to provide the community with the educational access it needs to achieve success, and the steadily increasing enrollment shows just how well we have been able to do this.”
The latest enrollment figures show that part-time students still comprise the bulk of HCC students, accounting for 73 percent of the total. Women significantly outnumber men, comprising 67 percent of the student body. The “average” student is still a 29-year-old female.
While older, non-traditional students continue to make up the largest segment of the student population, students under age 25 are closing the gap. These students account for 49 percent of the student body, up from 37.3 percent four years ago.
Hadley says she is most proud of the fact that HCC is able to provide educational access to students at no net cost to taxpayers.
“An economic impact study we completed earlier this year shows that Housatonic puts more money back into the state treasury than it takes out,” she said. “That is more than offset by taxes on former HCC students' increased income and through the reduced drain on state services that stems from an HCC education.”
The latter alone accounts for a $1.4 million annual savings that results from the improved health of and reduced welfare unemployment and crime costs associated with HCC graduates, according to the report. Overall, taxpayers see a 13-percent return on the tax dollars used to fund Housatonic operations, which are recovered in an average 8.6 years.
The report also calculates that Housatonic contributes more than $60 million per year to the region's economy, the equivalent of 1,400 jobs. Also it asserts that HCC students enjoy a 27-percent annualized return on their investment of time and money - much higher than the long-term return on stocks and bonds.
HCC stands as an example for other colleges, such as New Haven's Gateway Community College, to consider as they weigh plans to move to downtown areas. In Connecticut alone, Capital Community College has moved downtown to the vacant G. Fox department store building, while the University of Connecticut's Waterbury campus is moving to that city's downtown.
According to HCC officials, Housatonic is the first downtown community college, the first college east of the Rockies, and the third in the nation to use the model to develop such a dollars-and-cents economic impact statement.
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