OCC optimistic forming partnerships will boost enrollment

In the face of a $3 million budget shortfall and a decline in enrollment over the past five years, Ocean County College officials remain optimistic steps being taken to reduce costs and attract new students will pay off. 

College President Jon H. Larson said the goal of the "Ocean 20-20 Challenge" is to double enrollment in five years.

"Even if we don't reach that goal, which of course is a big stretch, it does provide a sense of what we're committed to, and so anything that we could achieve that comes close to that would be just terrific," Larson said.

Larson explained the strategy includes traditional and non-traditional kinds of enrollment.

"For example, doing employee training in Language Instruction in a foreign country, online, is not the stuff that the colleges and universities historically have done, but we think that's a wonderful opportunity that we should pursue," said Larson.

Ocean County College is in the process of forming several national and international partnerships with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia to establish branches on the Toms River campus.

"Both of them are going to bring degrees and programs that presently do not exist in Ocean County or throughout South Jersey, so we think those are both going to be very important additions because they're going to provide job opportunities that are in high demand, and we know that there are positions out there, both in healthcare and the technologies, that students can acquire if they attend our institution. And it makes sense for those institutions because they can offer their degrees, at not quite half, but almost half the cost of what it would be for them to do it on their home campuses," said Larson.

Larson touted Ocean County College as being a bargain at about $4,000 dollars a year to attend, compared to a private institution that costs in the $40,000 range and a state university that costs in the upper $20,000 range to attend.

"If you can take the first 2 years at $4,000 a year, the students save a lot, the families save a lot, and the institution still gets to receive those students at the upper level, and so they're in the process of trying to make sure that the future looks bright for them by expanding the amount of partnering they're doing with community colleges," said Larson.

In addition, Larson said Ocean County College has signed an agreement with the second largest university in Egypt, Ain Shams University in Cairo, that would include a joint-partnership with Kean University in Union to offer a Baccalaureate Degree in Global Business online. Ocean County College would deliver the first 2 years if the Baccalaureate Degree, and Kean would deliver the upper 2 years, according to Larson.

Larson noted Ocean County College's existing partnership with Kean has boosted enrollment for both schools.

Larson said Ocean County College works with international companies that run call centers and want to remain competitive by enhancing the English Language Skills of the people they employ to teach different languages through a partnership the school has with Rosetta Stone.

"We use the Rosetta Stone teaching system and we offer credit, we hire the teacher, and we deliver it online," said Larson. He said Ocean County College officials will be visiting Morocco in January to sign an agreement.

Larson is hopeful all of these developments will have a positive impact on future enrollment. The school has experienced about 15 percent drop in enrollment over the past five years, similar to what many institutions nationwide have been experiencing due to an overall decline in high school student populations and an increase in college tuition higher than the rate of inflation.

Tuition at Ocean County College will continue to go up in modest increases with the rate of inflation, or slightly higher, according to Larson.

The college is trying to plug its budget deficit by dipping into surplus funds, not filling positions vacated through attrition, and renegotiating vendor contracts, according to Larson. In addition, he said Ocean County College is considering outsourcing its book store operation.

"The bottom line could be actually improved, and at the same time, the majority, if not all of the employees in the book store, would be picked up by the book store vendor," said Larson.

He added the college would receive a one-time windfall of $1 million to $2 million because the outsourced vendor would purchase the college's book inventory.