The pandemic effect: CSUB sees record enrollment while KCCD numbers decline
When the job market gets tough, a general rule of thumb is that people go back to school, hoping to emerge with stronger credentials and a better job once the tough times are over. But there was little place for conventional wisdom in a pandemic that erupted just as students were applying for programs in spring.
“I think everyone nationwide was concerned,” said Dr. Dwayne Cantrell, chief enrollment officer at Cal State Bakersfield.
There’s been room for the conventional wisdom in Kern
County: Students went to grad school in record numbers this year. But the pandemic has taken its toll on community college students, which saw a notable dip.
CSUB has had record enrollment this fall: There are 11,846 students, which is 413 students more than last year. Cantrell attributes part of that to the fact that the university is deeply embedded in the community, and it’s the only major nonprofit four-year university in the area.
Public colleges have seen a 1.4 percent decline in enrollment nationally, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. But schools with a similar relationship to their community, like Fresno State and Sacramento State, have also been hitting records in their enrollments.
Cantrell sees strong evidence that some students are using this time of uncertainty to go back to school. That’s particularly true in graduate programs where enrollment is up 13 percent over last year. Cantrell says these advanced degrees provide a good return on their investment at a time when workers might be facing unemployment or a shifting economy. It can also give students a sense of accomplishment when jobs are scarce.
Though not quite at the rates of graduate student, enrollment numbers are also up among undergraduates. Continuing students were up 1 percent over last year.
Cantrell believes that this is because if students had reservations about distance learning, they were likely overridden by the fact that they’re already deep into their career. He said students might ask themselves, “If I only have a year left, why stop now?”
The numbers look different for new freshmen. He said CSUB expected a dip and they did see 100 fewer than they did last year.
Kern Community College District saw a much bigger dip in its enrollment: Its numbers were down 7 percent from last fall, according to Cindy Collier, the interim director of Student Health and Wellness.
Many community colleges across the nation reportedly saw big dips. The average dip in enrollment nationally is 9.4 percent, according to National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Collier says that the colleges have created programs to try to help students: emergency funds, virtual tutoring and virtual counseling to help keep students on track with their educational goals. But she says that many community college students are juggling a heavy load during the pandemic that includes work, school and caregiving.
She points out that overseeing the distance learning of children has become particularly strenuous during the coronavirus pandemic. Even just figuring out how to have multiple people working on one Wi-Fi connection can be a huge challenge.
“The stress of the world that we’re living in has created hardships for people,” said Collier.