Students enrolled in spring classes especially late this spring due, in part, to the cold weather.

AACC’s Vice President for Learning Mike Gavin said he is “convinced” the January cold snap caused students to enroll later than usual. Administrators usually cancel low-enrollment classes the Tuesday before the start of the semester, but they decided to delay cancellations for two extra days, waiting until that Thursday.

“The courses we allowed to run … all did go up [in numbers of students enrolled],” Gavin said. “It was the right decision. … It allowed us to cancel less classes.”

Immediately before the registration deadline, enrollment was down by 4 percent from last year, which was 7 percent below the goal administrators set.

On Jan. 19, the college was at 91 percent of its spring enrollment goal—which includes enrollment for 13- and eight-week classes as well as traditional 16-week classes.

According to Gavin, other colleges in the area reported low enrollment around the same time.

Overall enrollment has been declining since 2012. Gavin said the decline is due to more than simply the cold weather. When unemployment is low, college enrollments typically decline, Gavin said, but the weather did play a part this semester.

Kat Purkey, an environmental science major who enrolled about a week before classes started, said her friends told her the wrong enrollment cut-off date. That and her work schedule had more effect on when she enrolled than the cold weather.