WNC president: Retention as important as recruiting

High school students made up approximately 41% of Western Nevada College’s enrollment in the 2023-24 school year.

While the college fully embraces the students, President Kyle Dalpe also is keeping a watch on the full spectrum of community members who are accessing classes and opportunities.

Enrollment is up 3% from last year, which was up 17% from the previous year, and that was the largest gain WNC had seen in more than 12 years. The college maintains a flexible count with an open enrollment through its semester, but Dalpe said a “new dynamic” keeps the college attractive to students. Carson High School alone has about 125 students enrolled in its JumpStart program as of this school year, according to district staff members.

For Dalpe, retention is just as key as recruitment.

“The enrollment management pipeline is not just about getting them in the door, it’s about getting them all the way across the stage,” Dalpe said. “And so, the latest group of students that have moved in last year has to move through. So if we plateau at the same number of students that we had last year, I’m happy with that because that means we’re serving more people and we’re getting them through the programs and not just in the door. That’s important. That’s a success element of what we do.”

In other campus news, WNC this month hosted the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents meeting, which happens once every third year. Regents toured the Aspen Building and received a closeup look of the buildings and facilities.

“It was a great moment to showcase it to our board because they were able to see how we operate every day but also the needs that we have, and we do have some needs that still linger out there,” Dalpe said.

The Aspen building is due for an upgrade in its kitchen area that would equip it for a culinary program. Board members had an opportunity to view Aspen as it’s been renovated, and its front area where potential renovation is a $1.5 million request, he said.

“We put that forward as a state public works project for the legislative session, and through the vetting process, the campuses, all eight institutions, look at every request that every campus has through NSHE and they vote on it and do some research on it,” he said. “Well, our Aspen Building came to the top of the NSHE list, so we are the No. 1 state public works board project from NSHE.”

Also in looking to the 2025 legislative session, Dalpe said funding would be sought to support the college’s Jack C. Davis Observatory and renovations and expenses for boilers and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

The college continues to perform well with its workforce, career and technical education offerings, attracting students to its welding, applied industrial technology and advanced manufacturing offerings, Dalpe said. Nursing is a little more finite, but that might be hindered by the economy.

“People just may or may not be interested in being in that field post-pandemic, but it’ll pick up again because we are expanding nursing,” he said. “It’s a little bit slow here in Carson, but it’s picked up in the rural areas.”

Dalpe said WNC finalized its transfer of the High Tech Center on the Carson High School campus to the Carson City School District the week of Sept. 9. The college’s gradual decreased usage of the building in the past nine years as traditional students shifted to online options or to WNC’s Carson campus made the center irrelevant to its ownership as an offsite facility. To keep it under its maintenance and responsibility for security no longer was deemed prudent.

“It’s probably kind of a relief to be able to give it over to the high school that does use it, actually, on a regular basis,” Dalpe said. “I want to say we’ve been down 30% in facilities for the last two years, and we just cannot hire people in some of those positions.”

In April, the college approaches its seven-year accreditation report. Also in the spring, Dalpe said the college will begin its new strategic planning process since its current plan expires in 2025.

“For the longest time, the system has been about access, success, workforce development, closing the achievement gap and research, and we don't do a whole lot in research,” Dalpe said. “That's more for the universities, but the other four we hit all the time. And so, we can reshape our strategic plan based on feedback from the accreditation process. … But it’s always about access and success to the programs we have. That’s what a community college does.”

Dalpe said he’s proud of the institution’s fundraising efforts, such as the recent Reach for the Stars gala that produced $120,000, to help build new programs and fix its facilities and its enrollment growth, noting he’s thrilled to be able to get a science program when it went for decades without one and enhancements like the Western Nevada College sign on campus.

“I got a list of all of the classrooms that we renovated in the last year and it's good because at the end of the day, I love having a beautiful walk on our campuses, but students sitting in a classroom, they need to be able to be in a nice classroom,” he said. “The technology's got to work, the ceiling tiles need to be whatever color they're supposed to be, the walls need to be located where they should be because that's (the students’) experience first and foremost.”