Cascadia College president reports rising enrollment, strong retention and budget pressures
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Summary
Cascadia College President Dr. Eric Murray told Redmond's City Council Feb. 3 the college has three years of double-digit enrollment growth, high retention and closed equity gaps for students of color, but faces midyear budget challenges tied to declining international enrollments and state holdbacks.
Dr. Eric Murray, president of Cascadia College, delivered the college's annual State of the College to the Redmond City Council on Feb. 3, reporting enrollment gains, high retention and equity progress alongside fiscal pressures.
Murray said Cascadia's enrollment is "about 12% up from last fall," marking a third consecutive year of double-digit increases, and cited retention metrics he described as "number 1": "98% of our students stayed with us from fall into winter" and "90% fall to fall," compared with a national average Murray said is about 50%.
He credited a set of programs for narrowing and closing equity gaps between students of color and white students, including a mentoring program, an equity and inclusion center, intrusive advising (which requires each student to meet an advisor before registration), and targeted student supports such as emergency grants ("about $70,000" available), laptop checkout and a food pantry (Kodiak Cave). "As of this fall, we have closed those gaps," Murray said.
Murray also described budget headwinds. He said international-student visa restrictions reduced expected enrollment from some countries (citing Turkmenistan as an example) and cost the college "over $500,000 in revenue" when an incoming cohort could not attend. He said the state is "diminishing our resources" and that the college faces a roughly $500,000 holdback this year; nonetheless, Murray said Cascadia has healthy reserves and can meet payroll.
Council members asked about the Redmond Together Center branch. Murray said the Redmond site is popular for evening ESL classes but day-time running-start students prefer the Bothell campus; he said operating the Redmond center costs about "$100,000" a year and that Amazon provided nearly $300,000 for the center's first three years.
On outlook, Murray said he expects Cascadia to continue operating and expressed confidence in the college's outcomes, while acknowledging state and federal policy risks to enrollment and student safety that could affect future stability.
The council thanked Murray for the presentation and invited continued engagement with the college.