Skyline College is missing 153 people. Last year on the beginning of the 4th week of the new Spring semester there were 8,523 people walking around on campus, now there are only 8, 370, according to www.smccd.edu/accounts/skypro.The various offices that make up the administration of Skyline College know this because the student census has been completed. Every year on the 4th week of a semester, the registration for each student is put into a computer program, compiled, counted, and filed. This data is then used for purposes such as funding. In the Physical Enrollment Report the budget for the school this semester can be acquired by multiplying the WSCH, the weekly student contract hours generated by student enrollments, by the FTES, which is the full time students, who are taking 12 units or more.When taking a first look at the budget process, it shows an obvious incentive for schools to get as many students in seats as possible. What is not obvious though is that it is much more lucrative to have fewer students taking more classes than it is to have more students taking more classes. This is because with less students taking more classes there are more full-time students to be counted by the FTES.Another purpose of the Student Census is to determine various trends right now, for example over 50 percent of students are here at Skyline College to transfer. It tells the people at the Student Services center, like Lori Adrian who is the Vice-President of this division, that they need to make sure they have many transfer agreements with other schools.This is but a small example of what the Student Services Center does for Skyline College right now. The Student Services center also determines which classes are cancelled, which are opened, and also controls the timing of the classes. “[Essentially the Student Services Division] looks at who our students are and how we can best serve then,” Lori Adrian said giving an example of the power of the Student Services Center here is a scenario. If Skyline College was getting most of its students from schools in South San Francisco then that information can be used for many purposes.It can tell them that their outreach programs in South San Francisco are working. Then it tells them that their other programs aren’t working in an area like Burlingame. Triggering a response to either to expand the program, or try a different approach.As another example there are currently more students going to Skyline College this semester for night school than there are for day school. This tells the Student Services Center that they need to make sure that all of their services, counseling for an example, are offered at all times, even night.Finally the Student Census can determine trends for the future.”Students change their majors on average six times while attending Skyline College”, was an example provided by Cathy Hasson, director of the Research, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness Division of Skyline CollegeThe Student Services Center could conceivably fix this by attempting to create programs that help students find their majors faster.In conclusion the Student Census helps to guide the school along by helping it adapt to a changing population.All of this information and more can be found online at: www.smccd.edu/accounts/skypro