Dear editor:

Northwest College enrollment is down for the following reasons:

Other Wyoming community colleges are substantially discounting tuition and housing. While that does attract students to some degree, at some point this is counterproductive financially. Because tuition and housing fees are substantial revenue for colleges, when discounting goes beyond costs it is counterproductive. If NWC were to reduce student contribution to below the cost of operation, it would surely go further down a path to deficit funding and insolvency.

NWC is competing in a very crowded market for the finite population of potential college students. NWC competes with six Wyoming community colleges, the University of Wyoming, Montana State, Utah universities, Colorado universities, Black Hills State, and with institutions across the United States, all of which are aggressively pursuing enrollment wherever they can find it. The state-funded aggressive recruiting by University of Wyoming especially attracts students who would otherwise consider NWC as a first choice.

Dual and concurrent enrollment erodes fulltime enrollment at NWC. Because high school students can complete a significant percentage of their college required general education credits for free tuition in high school, the attraction to lower cost local college education is diminished. Yes it is true that NWC gets some piece of state funding for the dual and concurrent credit hours, but it is a percentage of what is lost by the loss in fulltime enrollment of high school graduates in NWC. These students take these credits to UW or other next level institutions.

For financial reasons, NWC is competing on a tilted playing field. Sheridan College has deep pockets from a local to the Sheridan foundation; Gillette has substantial financial support beyond local taxes from the community; Laramie CC and Casper CC have a much larger population to draw from, and are geographically and otherwise closer to UW; Central Wyoming CC in Riverton has had federal grant funding priority due to proximity to the Wind River Reservation; Western Wyoming CC has support from local mining operations. NWC on the other hand is in a part of Wyoming that relies on tourism and small agriculture. And, the state funding for support of community college favors the colleges in higher population communities.

In spite of financial challenges, NWC continues to provide high quality college education to all enrolled students.

Ideally the focus should be on the quality of education for the students enrolled, not on the students who chose to go elsewhere.

NWC contributes to the opportunities and quality of life in Powell and northwest Wyoming. Local support is essential for NWC success. Support NWC by making it the first choice for post-secondary education.

Gerald Giraud

Powell