Enrollment Trends

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Washington Community and Technical College Enrollment Trends

On Target With State Funds

• Total 2008-09 FTES (all funds) grew by 14,460 FTES (8.5 percent) to 183,649 FTES.
• State-funded FTES, 80 percent of the total FTES, grew by 11,103 FTES or 8.2 percent. State FTES include Worker Retraining (described below).
• Contract-funded FTES increased by 3,621 FTES or 12.8 percent. Increases in international, military and other employer contracts accounted for nearly two-thirds of the growth. Dual enrollments – high school students taking college courses – represented 44 percent of all contract FTE enrollments and are described in more detail below.

Getting People Back to Work

• State-funded workforce education enrollments grew in response to student and employer demand for new workers, skill upgrading and worker retraining. (Workforce education enrollments are based on the students’ purpose for attending and include FTE of all types taken by students enrolled for a workforce related purpose.)
• The balance of workforce education, exclusive of Worker Retraining, increased by 4,505 state FTES or 8.1 percent.
• As the economy worsened throughout the year, colleges saw a rising demand for worker retraining. Worker retraining increased by 2,225 FTES or 35.7 percent. It is projected to surge to 15,000 FTES in 2009-10.

Success of Running Start

• Running Start is 83 percent of all dual enrollments. In 2008-09 there were 11,845 Running Start FTES, a one-year increase of 5.9 percent.
• The balance of dual enrollment FTES are divided between Alternative High School Programs (1,735 FTES) and College in The High School (609 FTES).
• The success of the Running Start program means that more high school graduates are prepared to transfer to four-year colleges earlier.

eLearning Continues to Grow

• eLearning enrolled 23,604 state FTES or 16 percent of all state FTES. eLearning continued its strong growth, increasing by 4,737 FTES or 25 percent. This contributed to 43 percent of the system’s total state growth. Eighty-two percent (82 percent) of eLearning is state funded.
• Online learning which includes no face to face instruction is the most popular form of eLearning, comprising 71 percent. Online learning increased by 2,951 state FTES or 21.5 percent.
• Hybrid courses combine online with some face-to-face coursework. Hybrid courses increased by 1,610 state FTES or 44.8 percent. This form of eLearning is projected to grow rapidly over the next several years.

Enrollment Data

Academic Year Report

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