NORWICH – Enrollment is down by 100 students at Morrisville State College in Norwich, and a flurry of meetings involving business executives, Norwich High School and the county have ensued over the past several days to meet a directive from the State University of New York to reverse the situation.
There were just 360 students on the attendance roster this semester, compared to 460 last year. The number is a far cry from reaching a goal of 600-plus set when SUNY Morrisville’s new campus opened at The Eaton Center site on Conkey Avenue in 2006. The college began an extension in Norwich back in 1970.
The economic downturn, rising cost of tuition and fewer students going to college has had an impact on enrollment statewide. Though it varies by campus, New York State universities have lost approximately 30 to 35 percent of their annual operating budgets over the past few years.
Another concern is that more Chenango County students are choosing to attend two-year community colleges over SUNY Morrisville because courses are less expensive. Base tuition at Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) is about $4,921 per year for example, compared to SUNY’s at $5,300. SUNY schools charge more because they offer courses that are applicable to a four-year, bachelor’s degree, should students decide to continue their education. SUNY Morrisville in Norwich offers not only associate degree programs in select career and technical areas, but also liberal arts transfer programs.
Community colleges can offer courses at a lower rate than state colleges because they are also receiving state-mandated chargebacks from counties. Chenango County taxpayers paid $950,000 last year for its students to attend them, wherever they are in the state, from Broome Community College in Chenango Bridge to the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. In fact, county taxpayers are currently picking up the tab for students who are taking college credit courses offered by TC3 in Norwich High School classrooms.
Whether the SUNY system will fund any new academic programs or other student draws is uncertain. Morrisville’s Officer in Charge, Dr. B. Wolfe Yeigh, apparently told a group of business and political leaders on Feb. 28 that no financial support would be available. Commerce Chenango President Steve Craig, who attended the meeting in Roger W. Follett Hall on the Norwich campus, told the Chenango County Board of Supervisors last week that it would be up to Chenango County to drive enrollment.
“It’s a fight between community colleges and state universities. They (the former) are taking students. ... There was something big at stake in the discussion,” Craig said, referring to Yeigh’s message. “You drive by the building and you think everything’s good, and then all of the sudden you realize ... well, that they’re not.”
Yeigh was unavailable for comment for this article. Instead, SUNY Morrisville Provost David Rogers assured in an interview that some funding would be made available to kick start new incentives. He also said Dr. Yeigh had the ability to create some “some zero price options” for students, through web-based instruction or teleconferencing, that would draw them away from community colleges toward SUNY Morrisville.
“We are an educational facility first and foremost, but we are also a business. If we can, through new programs, courses delivery methods and partnerships... if we can expand, then that’s what we’ll do. He (Dr. Yeigh) is concerned that if we don’t take appropriate steps, we will continue to get decreased enrollment.”
The provost emphasized that state support would come if new programs, course delivery methods and partnerships ultimately raise enrollment. He suggested investigating whether Norwich High School students could take classes such as business and science courses on campus.
“I don’t think people should be worried about our commitment, but we do need course offerings, scheduling and tuition that would make our instruction very competitive,” he said.
Reaching out to Norwich High School is a logical first step, said Provost, and the county’s other high schools might follow suit. Morrisville State College Norwich Campus Dean Marsha Cornelius has been asked to look at providing college credit courses to Norwich High School students and to report back to Yeigh by the end of the month. So far, the dean has met twice with the NHS Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan to discuss ways to make SUNY Morrisville’s offerings more attractive to students.
Following Craig’s report to the county board last week, many supervisors were alarmed about the future of the Norwich branch campus. Members of the Finance Committee noted that enrollment was down during 2012 budget-making time last fall, but other lawmakers just learned of the steep decline last Monday.
“It’s hard to compete with free. You have a financial equation that doesn’t work,” said Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, referring to what students at NHS pay for college credit now versus what they would pay to take similar college curriculum on the Eaton Center campus.
Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown said it was “unrealistic” to ask Cornelius and the community to develop enrollment enticing programs in 30 days. “They (the Norwich branch) have been here for 40 years and we have 30 days?” he said.
On behalf of the county, the board made an original $200,000 investment in the building project, and each year pays a recruiter’s salary, which is about $36,500 in the 2012 budget.
County lawmakers have regulary protested against the college charge-back requirement. They say the system of asking counties to subsidize students who attend out-of-county colleges – originally designed to support the infrastructure provided to them – is out-of-date. Based on a system created back in 1947, tuition to community colleges is subsidized in equal thirds by the enrolled student, by the county where that student resides and by the state. Before he retired, former Chenango County Treasurer William B. Evans said New York, over a period of years, had cut back on its share of tuition to community colleges, forcing counties to pick up the difference.
It was announced over the summer that Yeigh would be in charge of both SUNY Morrisville and SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica. Morrisville had been searching for a permanent president since January, 2011 when Raymond Cross stepped down to become chancellor of University of Wisconsin Colleges. Cross was at Morrisville for 13 years.
Craig said he thought Yeigh’s appointment was an indication that Morrisville State College was being “downgraded in importance in the SUNY scheme of things.”
Cornelius said she is “not worried, not whatsoever,” and rumors that the Norwich campus is closing are untrue. “I can assure you that we are not closing our doors,” she said.
Cornelius has already met with Board of Supervisors Chairman Lawrence Wilcox since the board meeting. Plans are to review progress and new ideas with both the county’s Finance and Planning and Economic Development committees later this month.
Chairman Wilcox, R-Oxford, said the steep enrollment decline is “a multi-faceted problem.”
“Marsha wears several hats. It’s a big job she’s being faced with. We reached out to Marsha and listened to what she thought might work. Our obligation is to make this thing work. We need and want to keep Morrisville as a presence in Chenango County,” he said.
Provost Rogers agreed that it is difficult for county legislators to foot the bill for TC3 courses at Norwich, but said he appreciated that Norwich High School administrators want to offer college credit opportunities.
“TC3 and SUNY are certainly partners. We just need to investigate our ability to offer courses out of our facility,” he said.