A new report shows North Carolina’s community college enrollment has surpassed pre-pandemic levels after a sharp decline in 2020.
The state’s community college system saw a 17% decrease in enrollment at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But over the last five years, North Carolina recovered that loss and then some. According to the latest report on system enrollment, there were about 10% more full-time equivalent students last fall compared to the fall of 2019.
Dale McInnis, the chair of the state board of community colleges’ strategic planning committee, attributes some of that success to innovative shifts to virtual learning.
“That took a lot of work and effort on the part of our faculty, staff and administration at each college to find the right recipe on how to adapt and evolve to serve their communities and their students," McInnis said at a recent board meeting.
And those options stuck. In 2019, students taking online and hybrid classes accounted for about half of the total enrollment. Now, they make up more than 75%.
The challenge going forward, McInnis said, will be expanding capacity to meet the state’s growing workforce needs.