During a data-driven Monday afternoon, Dr. Alyssa Young held court with the Hopkinsville Community College Board of Directors — discussing key points of a three-pronged strategic plan involving the analysis of increasing learner success, employment success and organization success.
When it comes to the school’s learners, Dr. Young noted that in fall of this year, students who applied and then enrolled was at 37.9% — nearly a 5% increase from 2021. And from fall 2021 to spring 2022, nearly 62% of HCC students were retained — which she hopes moves higher in the coming months, but does reside within the national norm.
First-term success, or students taking class for the first time at HCC, also showed promise. Dr. Young said that in the fall of 2021, more than 71% of students held a “C” or better for their rookie semester.
Looking to strengthen industry pipelines and transfer partnerships, Dr. Young also illustrated that recent post-KCTCS outcomes have been favorable. From fall 2019 to spring 2020, 52% of HCC’s students either transferred to a four-year institution, graduated altogether, or left and went on to employment levels above the federal poverty line.
Among the many current benchmarks she’d like to see improve, however, is the enrollment for associate’s degrees in arts and science. In fall 2021, 796 students were aligned with these credentials, but that number declined this fall — to 766.
Dr. Young did address one of the key reasons this might be: a shift in careers for some students.
As far as organization success is concerned, Dr. Young said KCTCS officials measure that by looking at the investments made in both faculty and student infrastructure, looking at employee retention rate as a key performance indicator.
From fall 2021 to spring 2022, HCC’s retention sat at 77.4% — down from 91% just a year prior.
One of the biggest reasons for this dip, Dr. Young said, was because of the loss of six important nursing faculty — made possible through the college’s massive benefit of up to six free hours of study for those employed.
HCC Chief Student Affairs Officer Angel Prescott noted that enrollment declined less than 1% from fall 2021 to this fall, from 2,038 to 2,031. Two years ago, she was reporting a 22% enrollment decline following COVID-19, and she said faculty and staff “have worked hard to come back from the pandemic” to get students back in the classroom. She added that HCC remains 46 students down from their current strategic enrollment goal.
Dr. Young also revealed a six-year snapshot of HCC’s proposed projects, which will be submitted to KCTCS for review and approval. Among the four priorities and in order, this included a $5.7 million renovation of the tech center’s HVAC system for 2024-26, a $3.84 million four-bay construct for CDL and diesel tech training for 2024-26, a $3.8 million renovation of the admin building in 2026-28, and a $4 million renovation of the auditorium in 2026-28.
