New Jersey's oldest community college faced a decade-long enrollment decline, struggling to differentiate itself in a competitive regional and national higher education market. Enrollment only began to turn around after the institution adopted strategic enrollment management (SEM) planning as a central planning framework.

In 2021-22, the Running Start program experienced its first enrollment decline in over a decade. This was due, in large part, to pandemic-related school and college closures and the impact of these interruptions on students' advanced course-taking. Additionally, some students whose early high school years were disrupted chose to stay in high…

Set in 2023, this study was deployed at the lowest point of enrollment in the California Community College (CCC) system since 2008, which was the highest point of enrollment in the system's history. The purpose of this qualitative, grounded theory study was twofold: (a) to understand the phenomenon of California community colleges (CCCs)…

Using data from the Quarterly Workforce Indicators, this brief explores changes in the Los Angeles County labor market and in the working-age population as a plausible explanation for some of the enrollment decline at the county's community college campuses.

Last summer, the National Education Association (NEA) developed a New Business Item to explore retrenchment: "The NEA shall make a statistical study on the effect of significant faculty retrenchment at community colleges on future faculty cuts" (NBI 78, 2022). ASA Research (ASA) conducted exploratory research in an attempt to identify…

City Colleges of Chicago undergo policy changes. In 2010, a reform sought to install accountability and transition City Colleges of Chicago into compliance with government funding requests through Reinvention. Reinvention, in the public view, was hailed as a necessity for a system that could not sustain on its own. It used a shock-system…

A new American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) report summarizes the challenges that community colleges faced during the COVID pandemic as well as their responses. It covers a broad area, including enrollment declines, the equity agendas, pandemic excellence and partnerships, and the changing landscape and competition.

Using rich administrative data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office that tracks each student longitudinally, this analysis examines how the onset of the pandemic affected student enrollment duration. Data are disaggregated by student characteristics and college campuses in order to understand variable impacts and equity…

Dual enrollment, especially at community colleges, has experienced rapid growth in the recent past, which contrasts with declining enrollment of many other student groups. However, there is a dearth of national evidence to demonstrate if institutions are converting dual enrollment students into regular enrollments after high school graduation. We…

The business/management problem addressed in this study is that as a result of the lacking organizational approach to service, the community college student experience in pre-learning service are inconsistent, contributing to the decade-long enrollment decline, resulting in fiscal challenges. The purpose of this qualitative systematic review is…

The trend toward continuous expansion of U.S. post-secondary enrollments was reversed in the 2010s. Using pooled state-level data in between-within models, we examine public higher education enrollment trends during the 2009-2019 period. We emphasize variation in the net associations of covariates by tiers. State economic conditions showed…

The past five years have brought tremendous upheaval to Rhode Island schools. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted and reshaped education across the state and the nation. Emerging from the pandemic, schools face numerous challenges -- pervasive concerns about student mental health and well-being, substantial learning recovery needs,…

Community colleges, known for their open access and inclusion, have seen consistent enrollment declines for several years. At Outward Flats Community College, the research setting in this study, student enrollment has consistently declined and a widening admission yield gap between students of color and white students occurred. The researcher…

Prospective college students have many options to choose from when deciding which type of higher education institution to attend. What compels potential students to enroll in a community college as opposed to other higher education institutions is unknown. The purpose of the study was to explore the academic motivation of students currently…

Nearly all states in the United States (45) currently have a postsecondary attainment goal to improve the average education levels of their residents and develop a highly-educated workforce. During a time of accelerated COVID-19 related postsecondary enrollment declines, the question as to how states will meet these goals could be particularly…