By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
David McLawhorn, president of Beaufort County Community College, has items on a long “to-do” list to take care of before he retires in a little less than a year.
McLawhorn, who recently announced his retirement effective July 1, 2011, will have to deal with record enrollment, increased tuition and cuts to programs during the 2010-2011 academic year. As for the record enrollment, that’s a situation he’s happy to deal with.
Much of his final year at BCCC, it appears, will be finding the resources to deal with a growing student body.
His final year at the BCCC helm got off to a busy start Monday with the beginning of fall registration. Some 890 returning students enrolled on the first day of registration, more than any previous year, and double the number of students who registered on the first day in 2007, according to McLawhorn.
BCCC has seen record enrollments the past three years, and McLawhorn said he expects that trend to continue.
“Community-college enrollment typically increases during times the economy is down,” he said.
According to McLawhorn, as a rule of thumb, for every 1 percent increase in the unemployment rate, enrollment goes up 3 percent.
“The flood of displaced workers and those seeking to add to their skill set have accounted for the majority of our recent enrollment growth,” he said.
In a recent interview with the Washington Daily News, McLawhorn stressed the importance of increased enrollment.
“Enrollment keeps the doors open,” he said, adding that it does pose some problems.
As an institution included in the North Carolina Community College System, BCCC receives funding from the state. Funding is based on the previous academic year’s enrollment, which means an increase in students over resources for the current academic year.
“Resources will continue to be stretched thin because we are anticipating an increase in enrollment for the 2010-2011 academic year,” McLawhorn said.
He said such resources include buildings and grounds.
“We currently plan to expand our overflow parking prior to the start of the fall semester. We have also been looking at classroom and lab space in several buildings to determine more efficient ways to use the space in order to offer more classes during times students want to be in class,” he said.
McLawhorn said the state’s 2010-2011 fiscal year budget will be challenging to community colleges and students alike.
“One challenge is the increase in tuition charges being passed along to our students,” he said. “Many of our students are out of work and struggle to make ends meet each month. Increased tuition charges could begin to be a barrier to their educational goals.”
McLawhorn was busy with another challenge Tuesday, as he visited a prison in BCCC’s four-county service area of Beaufort, Hyde, Washington and Tyrrell counties to discuss cuts in the state’s prison-based education programs.
“We have worked for years to build our prison programs in an effort to reduce recidivism of inmates in our service area,” he said.
Still, he said, the state fulfilled BCCC’s top priority: continued full funding for enrollment growth.
“The General Assembly has been extremely supportive with the budget it has allocated for this upcoming year,” he said. “Full enrollment-growth funding helps to ease the pain of the budget cuts.”
McLawhorn also wants to move forward with construction of BCCC’s new Allied Health and Nursing Building, which will be funded by Beaufort County and the college.
He said the college, about $2 million short on its half of the funding, will be seeking grant funding to help pay for the project. The final design of the building should be completed by September, he added.
McLawhorn said he will help the college transition to a new president as he nears his retirement, adding that he will be available to the person succeeding him.
In retirement, McLawhorn said, he plans to spend more time with his rather large family, which includes two sons from his first marriage and two teenage daughters with his wife, Terri Ann.
“Terri Ann has to work a few more years before she can retire, so I’ll probably be a house dad until she can join me in retirement,” he said.
He and his wife have been foster parents to more than 20 children, and he plans to keep in touch with all of them.
“Retirement will also give us more time to visit with them and their children,” he said. “Of course, more golfing and fishing are also on my list.”
Before he begins checking off items on his list of things to do during retirement, McLawhorn has items on that other “to-do” list to complete.