February 25,2022-
College of Sequoias enrollment this year is down about 14% compared to pre-pandemic levels, says college president Brent Calvin.”It is not that high in Tulare or Hanford” campuses, he adds. ”During the past two years we lost track of about 10% of our former students who just disappeared” says Calvin. The long time college officer says he senses the college is ready to move on from recent times of frustration and turmoil due to Covid.
That can be seen in the number of students attending classes in person, up from 40% last spring to 60% now and expected to be around 70% by next fall.
The pandemic has hit California community colleges hard as many young people’s plans have been disrupted and dreams postponed. Some colleges report enrollment off much higher around 30%, says Calvin.
At West Hills College Lemoore the current spring 2022 headcount is 1% lower compared to the same date (1/17/2021) last spring, and 16% lower when compared to the same date (1/17/2020) for spring 2020 (pre-pandemic).
West Hills fall 2021 enrollment ended with similar numbers compared to prior fall terms: 3% lower than fall 2020, and 17% when compared to fall 2019. But there is reason to hope.
It’s a trend not just here but across the state and country.
The California Community Colleges system suffered a 14.8 percent enrollment decrease — a loss of 318,800 students — during the 2020-21 academic year compared to the previous year, says California education website Ed Source.
Total student enrollment fell to 1,833,843 students from 2,152,463 the prior academic year, the first time enrollment dropped below two million students across the 116-college system in at least three decades.
Another report says California’s fall 2021 undergraduate enrollment dropped by nearly a quarter-million students since pre-pandemic fall 2019, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.
Community colleges have been the hardest hit. Their enrollment is down more than 13% in the last two years, says Morra Lee Keller of the nonprofit National College Attainment Network. Most notably, “we’re seeing drops in enrollment in low-income and first-generation students.”
Reason for hope
James Preston, President of West Hills College Lemoore says he believes things have plateaued after the college decided to bring back most students for in-person classes.”There is a big digital divide in Kings County.” says Preston. Despite 70% of students coming back to class, the infection rates have stayed low by requiring masks and installing an air filtration system in buildings. Even now, with the uptick in omicron infections, West Hills responded by pushing back the start-date for Spring class to January 31 in hopes “this fog will blow over.” Preston has been at the college for decades but just started his term as President this month.
To encourage students to come back to the college,West Hills is offering a $1,000 financial aid grant for full time students that may help make ends meet.
COS offers a similar grant to enrolled students.
West Hills enrollment is about 60 percent female as fewer males decide not to continue their education in this time of uncertainty.COS says their ratio is closer to 55 /45 in favor of females.
Preston says during the two-year pandemic college recruiters did not visit high schools to make the pitch to graduating students to continue their education. But now they are back at it. “We just visited 12 local high schools to get the message out” he adds.
One piece of good news is that transfers from West Hills to 4-year colleges is up 13%, says Preston.