Community colleges hoping to rebound from a sharp decline in enrollment since 2019

The state of Mississippi had the biggest decline in post-secondary enrollment in the country between 2019-2022 at an 18.6% decrease. Community college enrollment alone has seen the sharpest drop in the state of 28%. This is according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which cites this as the third year in a row that community college enrollment has declined in the state.

Kell Smith is the executive director of the Community College Board of Mississippi. He says that often times, community college enrollment is directly tied to the state of the economy.

"When the economy is good, folks that typically come to community college are going to be in the workforce," he said. "And so when the economy is bad and people can't find jobs, that's when community college enrollment spikes."

The report also stated a decline in both public and private four-year colleges, though public-school enrollment is still better than its 2020 numbers. Community colleges and private colleges in Mississippi can't say the same, and Smith believes the decline may be connected to many people leaving the state in general.

"The last census showed that we had a population decline." he said. "That's obviously going to have a trickledown effect to the post-secondary institutions, both the community colleges and the universities."

Smith says that the 2023 enrollment numbers seem to be on pace to closely match 2022 enrollment.