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鈥淲hen the economy is doing well, our enrollments are down, and when the economy is in a tough stretch or in a recession, we see our enrollments go up,鈥� said Chris Ferguson, an executive vice chancellor with the California Community Colleges Chancellor鈥檚 Office, which oversees all of the state鈥檚 116 community colleges. 

Ferguson said the state has yet to release authoritative data on fall enrollment, but early data shows upward trends. In interviews with CalMatters, some college presidents said they鈥檙e seeing over 10% more students compared to last fall. But they say the state hasn鈥檛 provided enough funding to keep up with their growth. 

California is not in a recession, but some economic indicators are grim. , and it鈥檚 getting . The cost of consumer goods, such as toilet paper and cosmetics, is , and economists say tariffs and President Donald Trump鈥檚 increased deportations could lead to further . 

鈥淭ypically when the economy gets a little crazy, like it is right now, people need to upskill or find new work,鈥� and workers look to colleges for help, said Nicole Albo-Lopez, deputy chancellor for the Los Angeles Community College District. In the Los Angeles district, students between the ages of 35 and 54 are coming back to school in droves 鈥� up 28% compared to last year, she said. 

Other factors may also be bringing students back to school. The COVID-19 pandemic created a in college enrollment, and some schools say the influx of students this year is just a return to pre-pandemic levels. A large portion of recent enrollment growth comes from high school students taking college courses, which has in the past few years. 

But most college officials agree that uncertainty about the economy is at least one of the driving forces for new students this semester. 

At the Los Rios Community College District, which represents four campuses in the Sacramento metro area, enrollment is up by more than 5% compared to last fall. Part of that is due to 鈥渢he gap between Wall Street and Main Street,鈥� said Mario Rodriguez, an executive vice chancellor for the system: The stock market has performed well in the past few years, even as job seekers see fewer opportunities and families struggle with inflation. Enrollments in career technical classes are up 10% this semester at the district, the equivalent of almost 4,000 new students. 

These job-ready programs, such as medical assisting, welding, and automotive, have always been popular, and some cap enrollment. School officials say waitlists are growing.

Quitting a job, starting school

Carla Gruhn, 29, has worked as a medical assistant in San Jose for 10 years. At one point she was making roughly $50,000 a year, but it wasn鈥檛 enough.

鈥淚n the last year, eggs started becoming super expensive,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I started paying more attention to gas and groceries.鈥� Together with her husband, she started planning ways to scale back 鈥� fewer coffee runs, less travel with their truck, cheaper gifts this Christmas. But they needed a long-term solution, too.

In July, she quit her job and enrolled in a two-year radiologic technology program at Foothill College, in the south Bay Area, which will teach her how to read X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. Her salary will double, maybe even triple, once she graduates with the new credential. 

The pay raise could be 鈥渓ife-changing,鈥� she said. At the moment, Gruhn said her family is small, just her husband and her dog, so their costs are lower, but they know it鈥檚 going to get more expensive, since they want to buy a house and have kids. 鈥淲e’re trying to plan for the future too.鈥�

At Foothill College, enrollment is up, especially in science and technology classes, said Simon Pennington, the school鈥檚 associate vice president of community relations. Many of these students are looking to fulfill prerequisites to enter careers in the health care sector, he added. Health care is one of the in the state, according to a recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California. 

In Merced, hours away from major urban centers like the Bay Area, Sacramento, or Los Angeles, students are clamoring for classes in electronics, where the fall waitlist numbers have nearly doubled compared to three years ago. Demand is also up for classes in criminal justice and mechanized agriculture, according to James Leonard, a spokesperson for the school. 

鈥淲hen the economy goes bad, enrollment skyrockets,鈥� said Dee Sigismond, Merced College鈥檚 vice president of instruction, though she wasn鈥檛 certain that a recession would have the same impact it did 15 years ago. Staring during the pandemic, Merced College, like most community colleges, now offers many of its classes online, which can make it easier for students to juggle school with a full- or part-time job. She added that Merced is also experimenting with new, more flexible kinds of instruction, such as , which allows students to pass a class by showing they already have the requisite skills.

Colleges call for more funding

California鈥檚 community colleges receive most of their funding based on the number of students they serve. When enrollment declined during the pandemic, colleges were set to lose funding, but the governor and the Legislature granted the community college system a special exemption, delaying many funding cuts. 

Now that enrollment is ticking up, many colleges say they have the opposite problem 鈥� they aren鈥檛 getting enough money to serve the influx of new students. That鈥檚 largely because the state鈥檚 funding formula is based on the college鈥檚 average enrollment over the past three years, so sudden changes this year are slow to have an effect. Rodriguez said his Sacramento area district is serving about 5,000 more students than the system is funded to support, representing about $20 million in lost revenue. 

This summer, the state agreed to to California鈥檚 community colleges to account for recent enrollment growth, but Ferguson said it isn鈥檛 enough to fully fund all the new students. 

Last month, presidents and chancellors from 10 different community colleges or community college districts, including representatives from Los Angeles and Sacramento, sent to the governor, asking him to change state policy and allow colleges to get more funding in next year鈥檚 budget. Though he did not sign the letter, Ferguson said the state chancellor鈥檚 office is asking the governor for similar changes. 

In 2008, colleges had to cut back on services or classes, even as new students poured in because the state didn鈥檛 provide proportionate funding for each new enrollment. 

Next year, California is expected to face an $18 billion , according to a November analysis by the Legislative Analyst鈥檚 Office. For comparison, the state had a deficit of about in 2008, worth about $36 billion in today鈥檚 dollars. 

In Chula Vista, Southwestern College President Mark Sanchez said his district is already saying no to potential college classes in high schools and prisons because of a lack of state funding. 

His district had over 32,000 students in the last academic year 鈥� the highest enrollment rate since the Great Recession.

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