Low enrollment and looming budget cuts were the main topics of discussion at the Mt. Hood District board meeting Wednesday.

With fall quarter enrollment at Mt. Hood at its lowest since 1987, Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s proposed 2005-07 budget contains less money for Oregon community colleges than was allotted in ’03-05, according to Andrea Henderson, executive director of the Oregon Community College Association, the legislative lobbying group. The Legislature will review the budget when they meet in January.

But Sen. Frank Shields, D-Portland, who also sits on the MHCC District Board said, “We’re not done. This is just the governor’s proposal. There are a lot of us who are going to get in the governor’s face.”

About 11,000 students are attending Mt. Hood this quarter, down about 1.5 percent from last fall according to Mt. Hood Department of Research and Planning. While still a decrease, it is not as severe as first reports indicated.

Enrollment was down four percent according to first week figures, which prompted a variety of activities to bring students on campus. MHCC President Robert Silverman said Wednesday, “We’ve made a lot of progress. It has truly been an across-the-board effort. Everyone realizes how important this is. But it’s going to be tougher now. The first cuts were the ‘easier’ ones. The next ones won’t be as easy.”

Reasons for the decrease are unclear, but Silverman noted that tuition increases are “directly related to students leaving [MHCC].” Recruiting and retention efforts are being considered, including increasing the college’s profile among high school students, encouraging post-high school students with job training and skill advancement, and tuition waivers similar to the one offered by MHCC in the past, which allowed students registering for 15 credits to take three additional credits free.

The board also discussed gender differences in enrollment. Rob Nielson, executive dean of Student Development and Services at MHCC, cited research and planning statistics that in the fall of 1976, 52 percent of Mt. Hood students were female; this fall they makeup 57 percent. He cited socio-economic considerations, men tending to go directly to work after high school and better college support programs for women as possible reasons for the difference.