ESCANABA — Enrollment numbers at Bay College are down slightly for the fall 2019 semester, President Laura Coleman said. However, these numbers are expected to get a boost later in the school year.

As of last Friday, 1,855 students were enrolled at Bay. Coleman said a total of 1,938 students were enrolled at the college for the fall 2018 semester.

“The very, very low unemployment rate probably has something to do with that,” she said.

Another factor Coleman said played a role was a change to how the Dickinson-Iron Intermediate School District (DIISD) is enrolling its early college students this year.

The DIISD was first involved with Bay’s early college program in 2018. That year, the district enrolled all of its early college students in the fall 2018 semester.

While some DIISD early college students were enrolled in the fall 2019 semester, Coleman said a group of about 50 students will be enrolled in the program for one semester during the winter 2020 semester. Between these students and new students from the Delta-Schoolcraft ISD, she said enrollment numbers for Bay’s 2019-20 school year will be on par with or slightly higher than enrollment numbers for last year on the whole.

The college had initially budgeted for a smaller decline in enrollment for the fall 2019 semester than was actually observed.

“We’re going to be making cuts in the budget so that we have a positive budget,” Coleman said.

According to Coleman, these cuts are being made by Bay’s senior leadership team.

“We’ll have that job done by the next board meeting,” she said.

The Bay College Board of Trustees’ next regular meeting is set to take place at Bay’s Iron Mountain campus on Oct. 23.

Coleman noted the cuts will not result in the elimination of Bay personnel.

“We cannot cut any more people from our budget — it’s just not even possible,” she said.

She also said things have generally been going well at Bay College during the fall 2019 semester.

“We are very pleased with how the semester has started — students are engaged and happy,” Coleman said.