In 2008, enrollment at Jamestown Community College was 3,718 students.

During that September 2008 Board of Trustees meeting, Dr. Gregory DeCinque, former Jamestown Community College president, compared the college’s increasing enrollment with the decreasing population in Chautauqua County — a decline we note has only gotten worse since 2008.

“For those out there saying you can’t increase things, we’re here to tell you it can be done,” DeCinque said.

Fast forward 10 years, though, and it’s a different story.

The college’s Educational Services Committee heard a report earlier this week that stated enrollment at the start of the 2018-19 academic year had fallen to 2,515 students — a 32.4 percent decrease over 10 years. Dr. Kirk Young, JCC vice president of enrollment management and insititional advancement, told The Post-Journal earlier this week that college officials knew enrollment would be declining in the short-term given the region’s continued population declines. Young told Board of Trustees members Tuesday that an increased marketing budget, paid for in part by a $230,000 donation from the JCC Foundation, will improve current efforts to promote the college in Pennsylvania, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, New York City and other places outside of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.

Expanding the college’s footprint into other areas could help enrollment, but it is likely even more important for JCC to reach out to those in its own back yard who are in desparate need of an education and, at times, find themselves struggling to afford even the comparatively low tuition JCC offers. JCC can rightly tout the fact that half of its graduates leave the college with no debt, but that does no good for those who can’t afford to enroll in the first place because non-tuition fees place them in the position of choosing between college costs and life’s necessities.Young told The Post-Journal that the college is working to create scholarships that cover more than just tuition fees because a number of students are coming to the college with needing help with more than just tuition. It would have helped college’s like JCC tremendously if Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “free college” program had actually covered all of the costs associated with going to college. It’s good to see JCC working to create a USA Scholarship that covers non-tuition costs for graduates in the top 20 percent of their classes. If the college is going to increase enrollment further, however, the program may have to extend beyond those top graduates.

And, we note Daniel DeMarte, the college’s new president, is trying to reinforce partnerships with local employers, municipalities and school districts. With the declining population in the region, graduating classes from all local school districts have declined as well. In response, DeMarte has begun reaching out to those school districts to better understand what JCC can do to be a better partner. It sounds as if DeMarte and Bret Apthorpe, Jamestown Public Schools superintendent, are of like mind on the need for the region’s biggest high school and its community college to do more to fill the needs of the local community.

JCC’s enrollment issues weren’t created overnight and won’t be solved overnight either.