Volume 81, Issue 20 VJeb Edition
www.brevard.edu/clarion
SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
Check out page 4
to read the new
‘Danger 5’ review!
February 10, 2016
Enrollment is looking up,
while retention rates are
down this spring at BC
By Sam Blakley
Editor in Chief
Enrollment at BC holds steady, but fewer
students chose to return to campus to finish out
their spring semester.
“Retention was down by about 20 students
from last spring,” said Associate Director of
Admissions David Volrath. Last year, fall
semester’s enrollment was 705 and this fall
enrollment was 729. Spring enrollment last year
was 649, which means in the ’ 14-’ 15 academic
year BC had about 50 students less in the spring
than in the fall. Spring enrollment this year was
629, which is about 100 students less than the
fall semester. That is double the number of
students lost the year before.
“Students may have family troubles or take a
semester for financial reasons,” said Dean for
Students Debbie D’Anna. “They may transfer
for a program that better suits their goals or
have health problems. It may even be they
weren’t performing academically. There are a
variety of reasons students don’t return.”
One reason retention is down this semester is
an increased number of students on academic
suspensions. Last year we lost 22 students to
academic suspension between semesters. This
year we lost 45.
If the College understands why students de
cide not to return to BC, various departments
may try to improve programs or create new
ones to encourage greater retention rates.
“We’re small so we take these changes seri
ously,” said BC President David Joyce. “When
students don’t return, the question I have to ask
is: why? Why couldn’t that student succeed?
Or, why didn’t this student succeed here?”
Academic Progress Program for Students, or
APPS, is an inaugural program organized by
Shirley Arnold, Associate Dean for Student
Success and Director of the Academic Enrich
ment Center, and instituted at the beginning
of the spring 2016 semester. The program’s
goal is to help students who are struggling
academically.
“This was created in part because of the
increased number of students on academic
suspensions,” said Arnold. “Dean Sheffield
decided it needed to be done, he tasked me
with creating a program over winter break and
we started it up in January. We will evaluate
the program at the end of spring, tweak it as
needed, but I think it will become a staple of
what we do to help students academically.”
There are a variety of reasons the school cares
about enrollment and retention. One of which is
budget planning. A large portion of the budget
each year comes directly from tuition fees.
This money, along with monies from other
sources, like grants and donations, is distrib
uted throughout the budget to pay for faculty
and staff salaries, campus events, facilities
improvements, general upkeep, and dining
services.
“We’ve been working towards a ‘sweet spot’
financially,” said BC President David C. Joyce.
“We want to be able to do things like give fac
ulty raises or put air conditioning in MG, but
we’re just not there yet.”
But the College has more than a solely
budgetary reason for keeping close track on
enrollment and headcount of the student body.
The Clarion ran a headline in Aug. 2013 that
reflected another reason: “701 reasons to
celebrate.” The story went on to report that
residence halls were full due to high enrollment
numbers. Campus Life has a maximum number
of students they can house on campus.
“We use enrollment numbers to help us plan
for housing,” said Beth Abrams, BC Director of
Housing. “We currently have 667 total beds for
on-campus housing. The new dorm will add 84
beds and, to use this past year as an example,
we only had 580 residential students. This will
make things easier for everyone.”
With a smaller percentage of housing used, it
makes housing accommodations less stressful
See 'Enrollment' page 3
Donald Trump
wins the NH
Republican
Primary
By Alex Laifer
staff Writer
Donald Trump was the commanding winner
of the first of the nation Republican primary in
New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Senator Marco
Rubio finished in fifth place following a poor
debate performance.
In the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 1 Trump fin
ished second in the Iowa causes, behind Senator
Ted Cruz but narrowly ahead of Rubio. The
margin between candidates was close enough
that pundits and analysts predicted that Rubio
would finish second in the New Hampshire
primary. Some even predicted he would win!
These predictions were made before the most
recent debate and were premature.
In the debate. New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie compared Rubio to Barack Obama for
being a one-term US Senator lacking the expe
rience necessary to be President. Rubio coun
tered this by claiming that President Obama
has known what is he doing and throughout his
administration and has tried to make the United
States like the rest of the world.
However when he repeated this claim three
times, Chris Christie called Rubio on the re
hearsed lines. Christie finished poorly in New
Hampshire but brought Rubio down with him.
The opening helped Governor John Kasich,
who bet his entire candidacy in New Hamp
shire, finish second in the recent primary.
Former Governor Jeb Bush also benefited, and
finished in fourth place narrowly behind Cruz
but ahead of Rubio.
Donald Trump benefited from a divided field
and was able to win with just over a third of the
vote. Trump also benefited from New Hamp
shire’s electorate. The primary voters were less
religious and more economically minded, both
of which played to Trump’s favor.
The next Republican primary is on February
20 in South Carolina.