Fall 2015 Enrollment Summary
Washington Community and Technical Colleges

In fall 2015, colleges enrolled 163,595 full-time equivalent students (FTES) in all fund
categories, down 1 percent (-1,339 FTES) from fall 2014.

Colleges enrolled 122,595 state-supported FTES, down 2 percent (-2,601 FTES) from fall
2014. It is projected that the colleges’ annual state-supported FTES will also end the year 2
percent below annual enrollments served last year. We project that the system will be 3 percent
below its legislative target for the year.

This marks the fifth straight year that state-supported enrollments have declined. In the prior
four years, the decline in enrollment appears to have been primarily driven by the improving
economy with larger declines among older students and students in workforce classes. This
year marks the first year in which the larger declines were among younger students and
students in other classes (academic, developmental education, and basic education for adults).
It appears that the the decline in state-supported enrollment this year is parimarily driven by
more students deciding to attend the public baccalaureate institutions instead of the colleges
(public baccalaureate institutions have reported increased enrollments in fall 2015 related to the
larger tuition reduction).

Colleges enrolled 35,494 contract funded FTES, up 4 percent (1,360 FTES) from fall 2014.
The increase in contract funded FTES primarily reflects an increase in Running Start FTES,
which makes up just over half of all contract funded enrollments. There was also a small
increase in contract funded international student enrollments.

Some programs of interest:
o Apprenticeship: 2,932 FTES, up 24% (563 FTES)
o BAS: 1,424 FTES from 19 colleges offering 40 programs, up 61% (541 FTES)
o Basic Education for Adults: 16,854 FTES, down 2 percent (-404 FTES)
o eLearning: 39,815 FTES, up 7 percent (2,462 FTES)
o International - All Funds: 12,821 FTES, down 4 percent (-535 FTES)
o International - Contract: 6,415 FTES, up 3 percent (170 FTES)
o Worker Retraining: 5,618 FTES, up 3 percent (169 FTES)
o Workfirst: 2,305 FTES, down 19 percent (-554 FTES)
Change in State-Supported FTE by College: Fall 2014 - Fall 2015
% change
# change
-1,000-800 -600 -400 -200 0
Bates
Bellevue
Bellingham
Big Bend
Cascadia
Centralia
Clark
Clover Park
Columbia Basin
Edmonds
Everett
Grays Harbor
Green River
Highline
Lake Washington
Lower Columbia
Olympic
Peninsula
Pierce Fort Steilacoom
Pierce Puyallup
Renton
Seattle Central
Seattle North
Seattle South
Seattle Voc Institute
Shoreline
Skagit Valley
South Puget Sound
Spokane
Spokane Falls
Tacoma
Walla Walla
Wenatchee Valley
Whatcom
Yakima Valley
2
200 400 600
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
78
3%
-407
-5%
140
49
40
7%
3%
2%
-169
-8%
-10%
-659
64
72
2%
2%
-118
-195
-3%
-4%
12
1%
-169
-4%
-753
-14%
-23
-1%
-357
-259
-13%
-5%
-3%
-49
63
107
209
2%
5%
6%
-84
-60
-2%
-2%
219
6%
0
0%
-184
-4%
56
2%
-144
-4%
476
-105
-40
-23
-258
-8
-121
6%
-2%
-1%
-1%
-9%
0%
-3%
Fall 2015 Enrollment Summary