The found community colleges led overall undergraduate enrollment growth in the fall of 2023 by 2.6 percent, or 118,000 students, compared to the previous year.

Community college gains were carried by those with a vocational program focus 鈥� pointing to students鈥� growing disdain for working towards a four-year degree.

鈥淲e have shortages in a lot of jobs that require bachelor鈥檚 degrees,鈥� said Josh Wyner, founder and executive director of the , including well-paying careers in nursing, teaching and software engineering that pay north of $50,000 annually.

鈥淪o when we see students entering community college not in those liberal arts programs that lead to bachelor鈥檚 degrees, it鈥檚 troubling,鈥� Wyner said, adding that a vocational degree won鈥檛 provide the long-term financial payoff that would more likely come from a four-year education.

Career-Driven Programs Lead Enrollment Growth

Community colleges with a vocational program focus grew 16 percent in the fall of 2023 compared to the previous year鈥檚 3 percent gain 鈥� bringing them above their pre-pandemic enrollment by nearly 30,000 students.

But, transfer-focused community colleges only grew slightly by 0.2 percent in the fall of 2023 compared to the previous year鈥檚 1.1 percent drop 鈥� continuing their pre-pandemic enrollment decline by more than 500,000 students.

鈥淭here鈥檚 fewer community college students entering a transfer pipeline that we can鈥檛 afford to lose,鈥� said John Fink, a senior research associate at the .

This trend comes as community colleges remain in a 鈥渧ery deep hole鈥� because their uptick in enrollment doesn鈥檛 come close to pre-pandemic numbers, he added.

The report found community college growth in the fall of 2023 brings current enrollment to about 4.5 million students.

Popular programs include computer science, business and health that grew by 9.1, 3.5 and 2.4 percent respectively. 

But, there were more than 5.2 million students enrolled pre-pandemic 鈥� leaving community colleges with a net loss of nearly 700,000 students.

鈥淐ommunity college growth is certainly an encouraging sign, but there’s still a long way to go to get back to where we were,鈥� said Jeremy Cohen, a research associate at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Despite the growing number of companies no longer requiring job applicants to have a four-year degree, their hiring behavior hasn鈥檛 changed, Wyner said.

鈥淭he majority of good jobs in our country are populated by workers that have a bachelor’s or greater,鈥� Wyner said. 鈥淪o if students aren’t enrolling in community college programs that align with attaining a bachelor’s, we’re going to really struggle filling job vacancies in the future.鈥�

Wyner said the main factor community college-goers rely on to decide whether a four-year degree is worth pursuing is 鈥渨ord-of-mouth鈥� experiences from current students.

鈥淚f a student leaves [a four-year] college without a degree or with a degree that didn鈥檛 give them a better life than they would have had if they never attended, they鈥檙e going to go back to their communities and when people ask if it was worth it their answer is going to be no,鈥� Wyner said. 

鈥淪o the decisions we鈥檙e seeing them make may be entirely rational because the educational system keeps failing far too many of them,鈥� he added.

Transfer Student Declines Impact Four-Year Schools

This trend has implications for four-year institutions that rely on transfer students as part of their enrollment strategy, Fink said. 

鈥淚t might seem like this is a community college issue, but that’s going to translate in years forward to many four-year institutions,鈥� Fink said.

Wyner added how leaders at four-year institutions need to play their part in correcting community college enrollment declines.

鈥淚nstead of lamenting the fact that student enrollment in community colleges has come down, four-year schools need to lean in and do something about it,鈥� Wyner said, such as emulating Northern Virginia Community College鈥檚 that provides dual enrollment and guaranteed admission at George Mason University.

He said their program transfers more than 4,000 students every year to George Mason University and has a graduation rate of over 70 percent 鈥� higher than the national undergraduate average of .

鈥淚f you create really strong pathways for students, they’ll come back to community colleges,鈥� Wyner said.

This article is part of a series in partnership with reporter Joshua Bay鈥檚 highlighting the struggles of community college students.