El Camino College’s full-time equivalent students (FTES) have been declining since 2009-10. An ongoing decline year over year is a serious matter. To address this decline, ECC (and many community colleges statewide) apply a portion of summer enrollment to the prior year to meet FTES targets. For example, for the 2015-16 fiscal year, ECC applied 1,600 FTES from summer 2016 to meet our 2015-16 FTES goal of 19,488. This means we do not have those 1,600 FTES to count toward our FTES goal for 2016-17.

Stabilization

As a result of declining enrollment over the past five years, and with our “borrowing” 1,600 FTES from summer 2016 to meet the FTES target for the 2015-16 fiscal year, El Camino College will most likely be in what is known as “stabilization” for this fiscal year.

Stabilization is a three-year process that allows colleges to regain lost ground in the number of full-time equivalent students we serve.

ECC’s Three-year Stabilization Plan:

• In Year 1, funding is preserved, based on the prior year’s FTES.
• In Year 2, funding is based on actual students served.
• In Year 3, the final year of stabilization, funding is based on actual students served. This constitutes the base number of FTES to be served going forward.

It is estimated that around 50 districts in the state will be in stabilization this fiscal year.