As the economy has slowly strengthened, Washington State Community College has seen its enrollment begin to decline from the record numbers they hit while workers opted to get more training in a tough economy.
It's a natural drop, although college officials are working to get the numbers back up.
In the meantime, this week the college's board of trustees agreed to offer voluntary furlough days and retirement incentives to employees.
We're glad to see the administration and board are looking and planning ahead and trying to address potential budget issues before they're detrimental to the institution.
This is the right start. It's a way to save money without layoffs or impacting student services.
If in the future, the budget would need to be reduced and more cost-cutting measures needed, the public and those served by the college would know that the board first tried less drastic measures.
We applaud those at Washington State for being proactive.
