Combined enrollment at Iowa’s community colleges this fall topped the 100,000 mark for the first time in history. Elaine Watkins-Miller is a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Education. “They set a record high of 100,736 students,” Watkins-Miller said of Iowa’s 15 community colleges. “That’s a 14.3% increase over last year.”
Enrollment increased across-the-board at the colleges, but a surge in working-aged students led the way. The proportion of students between the ages of 16 and 22 decreased, while the proportion of 25 to 64 year old students increased by 2.8%. Watkins-Miller says the figures clearly demonstrate the impact of the recession.
“The age range of the students shows that maybe it might be people who were laid off or just want to go back to school,” Watkins-Miller said. The full report is posted on the Iowa Department of Education’s website: http://www.iowa.gov/educate.