PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College’s enrollment increased this year among all demographics from the last school year, Peninsula College President Tom Keegan told the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce this week.
In difficult economic times, an increase in enrollment is usually because more older students return to school for vocational programs, Keegan told about 40 people attending the Monday luncheon.
But younger students are bucking the trend by entering the college’s two-year university transfer program.
“More recent high school graduates are coming to Peninsula College,” he said.
The college also is increasing its international program.
This year, 90 international students from 14 countries attended the college, and the school plans to increase that number to 160 in coming years.
International students get no financial aid and, as a result, pay a higher tuition than most students at the school.
Part of their full tuition payments are kept in an account that could eventually fund a program to bring students from developing countries to the school, Keegan said.
The college has an international program to send Peninsula students to schools overseas, but many are unable to afford those programs, he said.
Instead, the school will bring the international experience to Port Angeles.
“The world is increasingly smaller,” Keegan said.
“We want students to be exposed to intercultural competencies, to move from one cultural context to another and interact with people from cultures other than their own.”
The school’s year began in 2010 with authorization to grant baccalaureate degrees, Keegan said.
The school began offering a Bachelor of Arts degree in early childhood education in the summer of 2010, and a Bachelor of Arts in human services is offered through Western Washington’s Woodring College of Education.
Construction projects
The college also moved forward with three construction projects: an artificial athletic field, a new arts and humanities hall, and a fitness center.
The artificial field opened for use in March and has already shown its value, Keegan said.
When the Port Angeles High School soccer teams were unable to play on their own muddy fields, they were offered the use of the new field to start the team’s season.
The field also has been host to a 250-child spring soccer academy.
Bringing young children to the college to use the field gives them the idea that they belong on a college campus, Keegan said.
Meier Hall, the new arts and humanities classroom building, is nearing completion.
The new building, which replaces four older ones, has a world-class ceramics lab and a 110-seat performance hall, Keegan said.
The college will soon break ground on a student-financed fitness center that will be attached to the current gymnasium.
“The students voted to tax themselves,” Keegan said.
The school also has plans to renovate buildings in Port Townsend and Forks, he said.
Chamber members had a few questions about college tuition rates.
Because of declining state funding, tuition will increase by 12 percent for the 2011-2012 school year and another 12 percent in 2012-2013, Keegan said.
State funding for the school has dropped from 98 percent to 68 percent in the past 10 years and is expected to continue falling.
There are more grants available to students, but the increase in tuition does restrict access for some, he said.
A chamber member asked about a local job-placement program to help connect new college graduates to local jobs.
Funding for classroom functions is being protected by the college, but programs such as local job-placement have suffered, he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
