More Students at Cuesta
Taking Fewer Units
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

The spring 2005 enrollment numbers are in – and the total headcount of 10,977 is the highest in Cuesta’s history. Ordinarily, this would be positive news for Cuesta, but there’s one catch: total FTES is down by 372 from spring 2004, meaning the number of full-time students has declined, resulting in more students taking fewer units.

The spring 2005 enrollment figure of 10,977 is a 2.3 percent increase from the spring 2004 count of 10,732. The enrollment for fall 2004 was 10,563.

However, the total number of units being taken in spring 2005 has decreased slightly from spring 2004 – down to 97,498 from 97,506. The number of full-time students decreased 0.7 percent from last spring, while the number of part-time students increased by 4.4 percent.

Distance education showed the strongest increases – a total count of 1,114 students, up from 733 in spring 2004. Both the Weekly Student Contact Hours (WSCH) and total units for distance education showed increases of 68 percent from last spring. The number of full-time students in distance education may be considered relatively small – a total of 17 – but it’s more than doubled from spring 2004. The number of part-time students showed an increase of 51 percent from last spring.

On the San Luis Obispo Campus, the total student count is 8,569, an increase of 0.9 percent from last spring. The number of full-time students decreased by 1.9 percent, while the number of part-time students increased by 2.9 percent. WSCH and total units showed decreases of 1.1 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

Trends follow a similar and more extreme direction on the North County Campus, which has a total student count of 2,340, an increase of 3.7 percent from last spring. The number of full-time students decreased by 9 percent, while the number of part-time students increased by 6 percent. Weekly Student Contact Hours (WSCH) and total units showed decreases of 1.8 percent and 3.2 percent respectively.

Enrollment is down overall at the South County Center, with a total count of 558 – down from 646 during the spring 2004 semester.