Iowa community college enrollment represents shifting needs, interests, demographics

Fewer students overall enrolled in credit-earning courses across Iowa’s 15 community colleges in the full 2023 academic year — even as more students than ever before jointly enrolled in one or more courses while still in high school.

The 52,814 Iowa high schoolers who took community college classes in 2023 — a 5 percent increase over 2022 and a 31 percent spike over the past decade — accounted for 45 percent of the community colleges’ combined 117,172 credit-earning students, according to a new Condition of Iowa’s Community College Report released Wednesday through the Iowa Department of Education.

The number of credit-earning students across the system continued a general downward slide since enrollment in that category peaked at 155,135 in 2011.

Mirroring the statewide trend, Cedar Rapids-based Kirkwood Community College saw its for-credit enrollment continue to dip in the 2023 academic year to 16,581, down slightly from 16,775 in 2022 and down 37 percent since its peak of 26,222 in 2011.

Meanwhile its joint enrollment — an area that Kirkwood leaders have expressly touted as a focal point going forward — swelled to a high of 5,921, up 46 percent over the last decade and accounting for 36 percent of its for-credit enrollment.

Both the state and Kirkwood also saw enrollment increases in the areas of noncredit courses — those offering personal enrichment, academic preparedness and skill attainment — and career and technical education programs, which are designed to prepare students for industry-specific careers.

Noncredit enrollment at the state level — despite massive losses since 2001, when it reached 311,092 — continued a rebounding climb in 2023 with an increase to 137,919 from a low of 123,313 in 2021. Kirkwood, likewise, saw noncredit enrollment tick up to 29,211 in 2023 from 23,809 in 2021.

“Noncredit programs often lead to industry-recognized certifications that hold labor market value,” according to a recent Iowa community colleges report. “They can be a starting point for job entry and offer ongoing education for those in the workforce to acquire new skills and stay up-to-date on industry advancements.”

Challenges, changes

Community college enrollment is paramount to addressing Iowa’s workforce challenges — given its pipelines to industry, employers and Iowa’s public and private four-year colleges and universities.

Community college enrollment also can be indicative of ideological and demographic shifts around higher education regionally. An “enrollment cliff” of fewer high school graduates is threatening to hit not just Iowa but neighboring states in the coming years.

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in 2020 predicted that while Iowa will see a 7-percentage point decrease in high school graduates from 2026 to 2029, those losses will be offset by gains in preceding and subsequent years.

Illinois, on the other hand, is facing a 24-percent drop from 2019 to 2037; Wisconsin is facing a 10-percent decrease over that period; Minnesota is facing a 3-percent drop; and Michigan is facing a 15-percent loss.

Those states are big suppliers of out-of-state students for Iowa’s regent universities — with Illinois sending over 9,388 undergraduates in fall 2023, regents records show.

And even without the demographic challenges, student intentions are shifting.

The percent of Iowa public high school graduates planning to attend a community college dropped from 38 percent in 2012 to 29 percent in 2022, according to the Iowa Statewide Longitudinal System. Meanwhile, the percent intending to go straight into the workforce has grown from 9 to 17 percent over that same period.

Between just 2020 and 2022, the share of Iowa high school graduates enrolling in college fell 10 percent — even as the actual number of Iowa high school graduates increased 3 percent.

And tuition and fees — like at Iowa’s public and private universities and colleges — have been climbing within the community college system, according to the new report, increasing 3.6 percent to an average of $213.28 per credit hour for in-state students.

Kirkwood rates increased 5 percent from $200 to $210 — still among the lowest in the state — with Northwest Iowa Community College charging the most at $230 and Des Moines Area Community College charging the least at $185.

Gains

Gains noted in the new Iowa community college report include:

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com