CCHEC students increase

• Higher education enrollment increase stems from more aggressive marketing.

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

Year-end enrollment reports throughout the county show that numbers are up in higher education, but have dropped for Carbon County school districts 1 and 2.

In a constant roller coaster of incoming and outgoing families, Carbon County School District 2 is on the downward trend. At the start of the school year, there were 683 children enrolled, while January’s numbers showed 663. Between December and January alone, the district lost five students.

“Those are significant numbers,” District 2 Superintendent Bob Gates said. “We’re in a down phase right now. Last year, we were in an up phase. We’re hoping real soon here we’ll go back up again. It’s hard when the numbers go up and down.” He expressed the value of having a stable student population for budgeting, staffing and other school planning.

Gates acknowledged that the falling student population in his district this winter could be affected by the flow of energy workers from companies like Sinclair Oil for the winter.

The enrollment report for Carbon County School District 1 also showed a student population decrease from 1,875 in August to 1,798 in December. Between November and December of last year, the district lost nine students. The January figures have not yet been gathered. District 1 officials were unable to accurately pinpoint any reason for the decrease.

Meanwhile, Patty Pedersen, academic advisor for the Carbon County Higher Education Center, reported that the total number of full-time and part-time students at the school has increased by five from the spring 2007 semester. In January of last year, the education center had 139 students, while this semester there are 144 enrolled.

Carbon County Higher Education Center Director Dave Throgmorton attributed the higher number to the aggressive marketing done by his staff.

“Patty, in particular, has been very effective about talking to students who have been here in the past,” he said. “People are responsive. They know they had a goal. And then they get a phone call that says, ‘hey, get in here.’”