College of Western Idaho tells JFAC enrollment up 13%; cites capacity limits and EWA cap

College of Western Idaho President Gordon Jones told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee that CWI’s academic enrollment rose about 13% this year and that the rapid growth is producing capacity constraints across several career and technical programs.

At a JFAC budget presentation, Kevin Campbell of the Legislative Services Office summarized the college’s budget history and appropriation levels. Campbell told the committee the FY2024 state appropriation to CWI was $20,816,700 and that the college “typically spends 100% of its state appropriation,” with COVID and ARPA years being exceptions.

“Growth continues … at its highest level, we are up this year 13% in our academic enrollment,” Jones said, describing broad gains across dual‑credit, academic transfer and career‑technical programs. He told the committee the college has “almost a hundred people on our nursing waiting list” and that “we have 1,000 students total on wait lists across all of our programs,” naming nursing, automotive technology, welding, cybersecurity and agricultural sciences as the key constrained areas.

Jones said capacity shortfalls fall into three categories: facilities, instructor‑to‑student ratios set by accrediting standards and support services such as academic advising. “From that standpoint, we have … facility. In some cases … faculty … and then thirdly, there are support services,” he said.

Jones also explained how a State Board policy cap interacts with the Enrollment Workload Adjustment. He said the EWA formula would have produced about $493,000 for CWI in the current cycle but “because of a 3% cap, you’re seeing the amount that we were able to put in … $265,000.” The college is requesting an ongoing $265,000 addition in the EWA for FY2026.

On affordability and staffing, Jones said CWI has kept tuition steady for eight years at $139 per credit hour and emphasized the college’s role in inexpensive credentialing. “At the 2‑year level, no degree we offer costs more than $10,000,” he said. He also flagged pay gaps for community‑college faculty and staff compared with four‑year institutions and local market rates, noting pay differentials “between $10,000 and $20,000” for comparable positions.

Committee members asked for additional breakdowns. Representative Petzke requested a detailed split of capacity constraints (facilities, faculty, support services) to assist budget evaluation; Jones agreed to provide the data through the Legislative Services Office. Co‑chair Herrmann and others noted longstanding concerns with the EWA formula and discussed options for statutory or policy revisions.

Why this matters: CWI’s growth and the EWA cap affect how much ongoing state support the college receives and the college’s ability to add faculty, update facilities and expand high‑demand CTE seats. Committee members signaled interest in reviewing the EWA calculations across institutions as they finalize higher‑education budget decisions.

Concluding remarks from Jones framed the request in fiscal context: CWI serves a large share of Idaho residents for a relatively lean per‑student budget and seeks targeted state investments to relieve program wait lists, hire advising and instructional staff, and expand adaptive CTE offerings such as electric‑vehicle and mining technician training.