BUTLER TWP — Bucking the trend of declining enrollment at state universities and community colleges, Butler County Community College is anticipating a slight increase in enrollment this fall, although credit numbers are down.

As of Monday, BC3 had 3,598 students enrolled, made up of 1,745 part-time and 1,853 full-time students. Last fall, there were three more students.

But BC3 President Nick Neupauer said with college in high school and 10-week semester classes that haven’t been accounted for yet, he expects enrollment to increase by at least 300 students.

“Numbers change daily,” Neupauer said. “We’re one of the few that has an increase in head count.”

He anticipates enrollment numbers to increase by about 1 percent from last fall. Last year, enrollment decreased by about 8 percent from the previous year. However, Neupauer said enrollment is still well above prerecession numbers. Between 2008 and 2010, enrollment increased by more than 20 percent.

Some state universities, including Clarion and Edinboro, have recently announced plans to cut academic programs due to decreasing student enrollment and state funding.

But while the student population is on a slight uptick at BC3, credit numbers have gone down. In fall 2012, students took 36,611 credits. As of Sept. 16, students were taking 35,776 credits, 2 percent less than last year.

Students need to take at least 12 credits per semester to be considered full time. There are about 100 more part-time students this year than there were last year, and part-time students account for almost half of the total student body.

As student numbers go up, credit numbers will too, but Neupauer doesn’t expect to hit the same number of credits as last year. He expects to see about a 1 percent decrease by the end of the semester.

The head and credit count includes all BC3 facilities, including the main campus in Butler Township, and branches at Cranberry, Lawrence Crossing, Linden Pointe and Brockway.