Recession changes tertiary enrolment schedules

Avia Collinder, Business Writer

University and college application and enrolment timetables locally have been altered by economic conditions, as prospective students, faced with growing inability to pay, wait until the last minute to apply, and institutions, confronted by dwindling student numbers, continue eleventh-hour registration appeals.

For the traditional tertiary learning centres, the situation is made worse by increased competition, which has led them to create new programmes of study that are more deemed marketable even as financial aid to students serve as both a practical economic response and part of the institutions' marketing strategies.

At University of Technology (UTech), where enrolment fell to 10,828 for the 2009 to 2010 academic year, from 11,218 the previous year, chief accountant Stephen Edwards said registration deadlines have been changed in response to the economic climate.

"Being in the middle of what is happening in the economy, we have to extend registration deadlines because individuals are taking longer to put together their funds, both for themselves and their children to attend school," Edwards noted, adding that in such an environment, the university had be responsive by stretching application and registration deadlines.

"Some will not respond until they have identified the funds," he said.

It is a similar story at the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) at the eastern end of Kingston. Executive Director Fritz Pinnock said enrolment numbers fell 20 per cent between 2008 and 2009.

Students' "inability to finance tertiary education in this harsh economic climate" has been fingered by Pinnock as the reason for the fall-off.

With government subvention said to be covering just 30 per cent of staff salaries at the institution, the decision has been taken to waive late registration fees and to boost student numbers through last-minute applications.

Weeks before the start of the new academic year, the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) is still running advertisements encouraging prospective students to make it the tertiary institution of choice.

But UWI spokespersons said the late promotion and admission policy, now a year old, is designed to push new academic programmes coming on stream in the 2010 to 2011 year.

"In a bid to meet the demands of our potential students, who are still calling every day, the UWI, Mona, is still accepting applications for selected programmes," June Degia of the UWIpublic-relations office said.

"Our franchised locations that offer UWI Mona programmes have their own application periods and deadlines and we try to accommodate them."

UWI recently announced a raft of spending cuts in the face of the Government slashing support to the university by more than J$1 billion.

"A dentistry programme, which is new, was recently advertised," the university spokesperson said.

Othernew programmes believed to be more marketableinclude bachelor of science degrees in medical physics and bio-engineering, digital media production, and banking and finance.

The university's flexibility has also been extended to offering weekend-only classes forpart-time students. Part-timers are said to make up about 36 per centof the student population at Mona.

The UWI is not the only institution trying matching financial and enrolment needs with new programme offerings.

"We are shaping programmes in order to attract the numbers we need, the numbers needed to keep us going," UTech's Edwards told Sunday Business.

A master of science in health administration; abachelor of science in entrepreneurship; and abachelor's in civil engineering with optionsin construction engineering, environmental engineering, structural design and transportation engineering are all among the new programme offerings at UTech, prompted by the more competitive tertiary-education market.

Welfare programme

New courses are also being rolled out at the CMI with five new offerings since last year.

The institute has also secured from its local and international affiliates, 40 scholarships for its students and, through a welfare programme, assists needy students with lunch, bus fare and tuition grants.

At theUTech too, students are said to benefit from grants, an earn-and-study work programme, bursaries and scholarships.

The financial-aid office there now manages a $293.7-million funding support budget.

At the same time, tuition charges have been climbing.

For example, the cost of studying nursing in the faculty of public health at UTech is now J$316,010, up from J$295,100 last September and fees for its consumer studies programme rose to J$212, 250 per year from J$199,680 in September 2009.

Fees at CMI have gone up some 10 per cent across the board since last year.

At UWI, any full-time programme in humanities now costs J$208,361 compared to J$184,000 in the 2009-2010 academic year.

- avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com