Columbus State Community College in Ohio has cut 14 nonteaching staff positions as it works through the second year of a three-year recovery plan tied to pandemic disruptions.
“As part of Columbus State’s ongoing focus on student success and the region’s workforce needs, the college is restructuring to further align personnel and operating resources to these highest-priority goals,” the institution said in an emailed statement on Monday.
Columbus State is also making other moves to hold down costs, including launching a review process before filling open positions, it said.
The college is grappling with a projected $6.8 million deficit for fiscal 2024 and didn’t receive an expected $3.3 million in state funding, local media reported.
From 2017 to 2022, enrollment at the college fell 7.6% to 25,129 students, per federal data.
Columbus State’s revenues decreased 1.7% to $233.5 million in the fiscal year that ended June 2023, according to its latest financial report. State appropriations make up about a third of the community college’s total revenue.
The college is hardly alone. Faced with falling enrollments and appropriations, community colleges in various states have come under heightened financial pressure.
Total students in public two-year institutions fell from about 11 million at their peak in the 2009-10 academic year to 6.7 million in 2021-2022, according to federal data.
However, the sector has seen some glimmers of hope. First-year enrollment rose 2.3% at community colleges in the fall 2023 term after growing the previous year as well, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
In Ohio, community colleges’ share of new public spending is projected to decline from 28% in fiscal 2025 to 10% in fiscal 2027, according to the Ohio Association of Community Colleges.
Recently, Sinclair Community College, also in Ohio, closed two locations after enrollments there dwindled.