A new study has found that admissions at community colleges plummeted during the pandemic, and students are not returning to class at what many call the gateways to higher education.
Compared to two years earlier, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that public two-year colleges had an enrollment of nearly 15% fewer students this fall.
This drop in enrollment has many worried about the ramifications this could have for low-to-moderate-income families who attend the nation’s least expensive colleges, the Washington Post reported.
The study said many colleges had resumed their in-person classes despite the recent jump in COVID-19 cases from the omicron variant. However, more infections could slow enrollment again, experts worry, continuing the downward spiral.
When looking at two-year colleges, enrollment for men is down 18.6% and 13.1% for women. But this trend is similar across the board, with undergraduate schools being down in enrollment by 7.8%.
While enrollment for undergrad schools, both two and four-year colleges, is down, this isn’t the case for graduate schools, which are up by 4.9%.
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Freshman enrollment may be leading the charge for low numbers at schools, with 13.9% fewer first-year students at all school types, except private nonprofit four-year institutions, which saw around a 2% rise from last year.
Charlene M. Dukes, the interim president of Montgomery College, told the Post that they “are certainly concerned” about the drop in enrollment.
Dukes’ school reported that they had 17,284 students enrolled as of October compared to 21,260 just two years ago. While the school has yet to cut staff, Dukes said that hiring has slowed to reduce expenses.
Like other schools, the omicron variant is playing a part in whether or not Montgomery College will offer 70% of its classes in person this spring as they had initially planned, the Post reported.
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While it is normal for community colleges to see enrollment rise and fall, Walter G. Bumphus, the president and chief executive of the American Association of Community Colleges, said what they are seeing is not ordinary.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like the last few years in community colleges,” Bumphus said to the Post. “The pandemic raised its ugly head in a number of ways for our colleges.”
Bumphus shared that at the almost 950 community colleges nationally, school presidents are tracking student headcounts closely.
“Everybody’s concerned about enrollment,” Bumphus said. “No doubt about it.”
Still, Bumphus thinks that numbers will pick up as the months continue and students seek short-term career training that could help them get into other universities.
