Despite reports that California community colleges are seeing vast declines in enrollment, winter enrollment at LBCC has not only stayed strong, but has risen during the pandemic.
Winter enrollment at LBCC has steadily grown since the winter session was first introduced in 2014, according to data provided by the college.
In the “pandemic era” alone, the total number of winter enrollment went from 9,864 in 2019 to 10,451 in 2021, and projected enrollment for winter 2022 is similar to that of 2021, at around 10,000.
According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, enrollment at California community colleges has fallen by as much as 12% statewide since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. As of this March, it has fallen by 56% at colleges in more rural areas.
In an interview with the LA Times, California Community Colleges Chancellor, Eloy Ortiz Oakley, suggested that drops in enrollment may be related to students becoming frustrated with the technical difficulties of online learning or choosing to focus on jobs that will help them weather the economic difficulties of the pandemic.
This statement falls in line with an impact survey from California Community Colleges that found that 19% of students had reduced work hours as a result of the pandemic, 22% lost their jobs entirely and around 57% face basic needs insecurity.
Even so, LBCC’s Vice President of Academic Affairs, Lee Douglas, explained that winter enrollment at LBCC is consistently high, with spring and fall enrollment numbers falling closely behind. Proportionally, LBCC is the 12th largest community college in California according to the Community College Review.
Douglas also suggested that winter enrollment has stayed strong because of the types of courses offered.
“It (winter session) was really intended to allow students to complete their degrees in an expedited manner,” he said. “So what you’ll typically find during our winter session is a lot of general education courses. A number of math courses, English courses … so that students can speed up their time to degree completion.”
Essentially, Douglas found that it is likely that because winter session provides students the unique opportunity to make up or get ahead of classes, students are more likely to enroll.
Douglas also believes that the pandemic has actually had a positive impact on enrollment, in that through outreach, the curriculum is now being shaped directly by student needs.
“We are offering classes in a lot of different modalities now, whereas in the past it was primarily face to face, now we are offering face to face, hybrid, online. We’re actually doing a better job because … now we’re meeting the needs of a larger segment of our student population,” Douglas said.