WARREN, Ohio - On Wednesday, it was revealed the Trumbull County Career & Technical Center's adult education programs could be in jeopardy due to declining enrollment. During a regular board meeting Thursday, a handful of people in the school community spoke about their concerns that the programs may be no more. This comes as the semester kicks off with no adult programs starting up and even more uncertainty. 

"Everyone calls me up everyday and says we need welders, we need machinists and we need LPNs," said Koula Glaros-Ross, Job Placement Specialist at TCTC. "I felt an immediate feeling of sadness for all of the students, graduates and staff because TCTC adult training is so important. Businesses need those skilled trade graduates." 

"We received a warning this year and prior to this year, we received notices we might be on warnings because we can't meet goals received by the accrediting agency," said Scott Lehman, Adult Education Program Chair. "Enrollment in the adult education program has been going down every year bit by bit. We have gotten to the point where you really have to look at that enrollment and compare it to the amount of money that comes in to the schools and evaluate where we're going to go in the future." 

Lehman detailed the LPN program that was set to start in Fall of 2023 has 11 people registered and 5 pending. The machining program only has 2 people registered. The welding program only has 2 people registered and 3 pending. "You can see there are not the kind of numbers that can be realistically sustained for any period of time," Lehman said. "To offer courses and not have people filling the seats, we just can't afford to do that." 

Lehman detailed how enrollment continues to decline with competition like Kent and YSU taking several students and thousands of dollars away.

“We understand that the cancellation at this time of the year is inconvenient for the students and apologize for that inconvenience," said Jason Gray, Superintendent of TCTC. "TCTC is competing for the same adult education students as several other schools and private entities in the area.”

Gray and Board President Cheryl Basista told 21 News after Thursday's meeting that the school has lost over $2 million due to declining enrollment in their adult programs. In the past 3 years, they've lost $823,034.19. In the past decade, they've lost $2,080,318 trying to save the adult education programs. 

"Each year, the TCTC reviews the enrollment in it's Adult Education Programs to determine whether the cost associated with continuing to provide certain Adult Education Programs is justified," Gray added. Gray and Basista compared temporarily dropping the adult classes to college courses, meaning, if there is not enough enrollment for a course, the class does not move forward for the semester. 

"This has been going on for many years," said Tiffany Streeter, Adult Education Director at TCTC. "And if you allow something to wither on the vine, it will die."

Glaros-Ross agreed the board can only do so much to save a program that is dwindling with funds, but she said they could collaborate with the high school as a "missing piece" to save adult programs. 

Those working for the district sparked their concerns for enrolled students and current teachers. "They're not kids. They're adults. They're adults with kids, spouses and they quit their jobs [for these programs]," Glaros-Ross added. 

Choffin Career & Technical Center representatives were present at TCTC's Thursday board meeting to offer assistance to any adult student. 

"You were expected to start class on Monday so that's tough to kind of turn around like that," said Dr. Sherry Cross, Adult Education Director at Choffin Career & Technical Center. "So we'll take them into our program," offering current adult students to enroll with Choffin's programs to keep them on track. This is unfortunate but we are here to support each other. We're the Youngstown-Warren community. When one suffers, we all suffer so we need to help one another."

The board said cutting classes for the semester is the only option to save themselves from not meeting operating costs for the past 10 years. They said this is not a permanent move and hope to bring back the programs next semester. 

"They're saying that a decision hasn't been made but when you get rid of all your programs and send them to other institutions, what else can we infer," Streeter asked. "The underutilized adult isn't going anywhere. There will always be adults who don't finish high school, decide to go to college and not complete, or students who go straight out of high school into the workforce. These programs are needed."

Streeter added declined enrollment should not be an excuse to remove adult education classes because students have until October to register. 

"We are going to investigate this down the road and we will have to make a decision but it's definitely a concern of the board and Superintendent that the adult education program will stay," Lehman added. 

This is also a national trend. A study from The Evolllution showed enrollment among adult students 25 and older has dropped 22% at community colleges over the last three years.

Superintendent Gray said every high school program is entering the fall semester with full capacity. All adult programs could still be back next semester depending on enrollment.

Contact Trumbull County Career & Technical Center at 330-847-0503 or Choffin Career & Technical Center at 330-744-8723 for enrollment assistance.