Iowa’s Community Colleges. (Dept of Ed map)
Iowa’s 15 community colleges continue to see a drop off in enrollment from its peak.
Alison Jepsen of the Department of Education’s Division of Community Colleges says there were some 127,000 people enrolled in the schools in the last academic year.
“This is a decline of 1.3% from the previous year and this follows a national trend, as enrollment most recently peaked during the onset of the Great Recession, and has decreased an average of 2.2% since 2012,” Jepsen says.
She says high school kids who are taking community college classes are now a big part of the enrollment.” Joint enrollment of high school students increased 2.4% in academic year 19-20 — to a record high of 51,800 students,” according to Jepsen. “This demographic accounted for 40.8% of total enrollment, and 25.6% of total credits.”
The community colleges offer certificates and two-year degrees in a variety of fields.
“The majority were in agriculture, automotive technology and repair, business, health sciences, information technology, engineering technology and manufacturing,” she says.
Jepsen says a record 69,614 students were enrolled in on-line credit courses. That is an 11% increase from the previous year. On-line noncredit enrollment increased 15.5% to 14,123 students.
You can see the full report on the Department of Education website at: <https://educateiowa.gov/documents/iowa-state-board-education/2021/01/2021-01-28-condition-community-colleges>