NOC: General Enrollment Down, Online Classes Rise As Students Stay Home During Pandemic | New

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ENID, Oklahoma. – With a general decline in enrollment this school year, more students at Northern Oklahoma College are opting for online courses than administrators anticipated in the fall.

Enrollment is down 8% this school year, NOC vice president of enrollment management Rick Edgington said at the college board meeting on Wednesday in Enid.

This year, 3,108 students have registered to start classes at the NOC’s three campuses, up from 3,372 a year ago, Edgington said.

The only increase in credit hours this year comes from students taking courses online “as opposed to in-person experience,” he said.

“I was a little surprised,†Edgington told the regents. “I really thought we would have more people who wanted to physically touch the campus rather than online or Zoom, and that’s not really the case.”

He attributed this increase to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Ninety-four students also failed to show up for the first day of school on August 16, and NOC President Clark Harris said he spoke to a couple who decided to drop out of classes because of the pain. from the country.

Since the college does not charge a non-refundable deposit fee either, “They have no skin in the game,” he said. “It’s okay for them to say, ‘Guess I won’t come. “






NOC President Clark Harris


However, NOC enrollment was the smallest drop among higher education institutions in Oklahoma, said Edgington, after speaking to sister schools. The decline is also not as large as in previous years, he said.

The NOC reported 20 positive COVID cases currently active last Friday – 19 students and one staff member are in isolation – similar to those in the same week in 2020, with 23 positives.

Since June 2020, 295 NOC employees and students have tested positive, of which 258 were physically present on campus.

Harris said student suggestions such as halving class sizes or dividing classes between virtual and in-person classes during the week were not financially viable for the college.

The college has run several vaccination campaigns at its Tonkawa and Enid campuses, while students at Stillwater can visit the Oklahoma State University clinic to receive a vaccine. The college also offers an incentive to those who get vaccinated.

Tonkawa students who cannot drive to a testing site will soon be able to purchase take-out COVID tests from the campus library, Harris said.

Masks are no longer mandatory on NOC campuses for the school year – a new state law has prevented higher education institutions from requiring them or vaccines after it went into effect in July.

Because several student-athletes were not vaccinated and had to be quarantined, in accordance with campus COVID policy, they must have missed their first scrum games of the season, Harris said.

Although a temporary injunction on the law is currently in effect, administrators or regents did not discuss the possibility of instituting a temporary term on Wednesday as other colleges in Oklahoma have.

Harris said these decisions were left “to your best judgment.”

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