Owens Community College announced Tuesday that the combined enrollment for the Toledo-area and
Findlay-area campuses, as well as the Downtown Learning Center, was 9,196 students.
This number reflects a 101 percent attainment of the college’s strategic enrollment target goal for
spring semester.
Target head count was 9,120.
However, spring enrollment is down 12.7 percent from the same time last year when it was 10,532,
according to Jared Meade of the Marketing & Communications Department.
This target was developed more than a year ago, taking into account high school completion rate data,
unemployment figures and other enrollment trends. The development process is a collaborative effort by
various college stakeholder groups, including student services, academic affairs, business affairs and
institutional research.
The college’s 2016-2017 budget was built taking into account these targets.
Looking more closely at enrollment by student type, the college exceeded targets for both guest and
transient categories and reached 99 percent of its goal for continuing students, the largest student
type.
The goal was 5,321; returning students numbered 5,279, according to Meade. That number is down 11.6
percent from spring 2016 when it was 5,972.
“One thing to understand is that even though the continuing student head count for this year is down
compared to last year it does not reflect the rate of retention,” he said. “When enrollment of new
students is down, there are fewer students to actually continue. So even if we have 100 percent
retention, the continuing student number could be lower.”
“We take a great deal of pride in helping our students accomplish their academic goals on their path to a
career or additional education, so keeping every student who starts with the college here until they
complete their degree or certificate is critical to our mission,” said Amy Giordano, vice president of
Student Services.