Funding initiatives by the Mountain Home Education Foundation and a new state law have boosted Arkansas State University Mountain Home’s fall headcount. Without the two initiatives, both the college’s headcount and student semester credit hour (SSCH) would have declined over 2016.
Dr. Robin Myers, ASUMH Chancellor, says this fall’s headcount stands at 1,421, an increase of 3.5 percent, while the SSCH declined 5.8 percent. Dr. Myers says SSCH is the number that drives funding for the institution’s budget.
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Myers attributes the college’s growth in headcount to two new initiatives.
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The new law had a significant impact in the number of students taking college courses while still in high school. In addition, Mountain Home Public Schools went a step further to cover the costs of courses for those students not falling under the new law. The Mountain Home Public School support is at a reduced tuition rate.
Project Promise, funded by the Mountain Home Education Foundation, is a scholarship program to help fund the tuition gap for all students graduating from Mountain Home High School attending two years at ASUMH.
Myers agrees Project Promise sent a strong message to the Mountain Home High School class of 2017.
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The number of students moving directly from Mountain Home High School to the college campus as freshmen this year has increased almost 40 percent.
ASUMH also collaborates with the Cotter, Flippin, Norfork, Salem, Viola and Yellville-Summit school district with either concurrent offerings and with their students traveling to the college’s technical center for workforce training.
Meanwhile, Myers says those students ASUMH has traditionally counted on for enrollment are declining.
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Myers says many other two-year schools across the state are facing similar challenges.
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