The California Community College system classifies students into several categories related to their current or previous enrollment in a community college, another college, or high school. Students in these groups have varying levels of attachment to education and therefore may have responded differently to the pandemic and the switch to fully online courses. Table 1 reports enrollment totals and changes in enrollment for different classifications of students, focusing on changes in Fall enrollments. Interestingly, large enrollment changes were not concentrated among first-time students. First-time students in the community college system, students returning to college after taking time off, and students continuing with their educations all experienced a decrease in enrollment of 11 percent between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020. Apparently, many high school graduates chose not to start college when it became clear that classes would be held remotely, and students returning to community college after taking time off might have seen enrollment decreases for similar reasons. One would expect these students to have less attachment to college and thus to be more likely to not enroll or defer enrolling due to the pandemic and shift to online courses. However, surprisingly, community college students continuing with their educations experienced a similar magnitude of change. That is, being connected to a community college and having greater insights into the impact of moving classes online did not attenuate negative enrollment responses.
Enrollment Changes by Type of Student
Student Type . | Fall 2019 . | Change to Fall 2020 . | Percent Change . | Fall 2020 . | Change to Fall 2021 . | Percent Change . |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Continuing student | 883,678 | −97,702 | −11% | 785,976 | −88,547 | −11% |
First-time student | 259,578 | −29,533 | −11% | 230,045 | −1,258 | −1% |
First-time transfer student | 116,887 | −8,261 | −7% | 108,626 | −17,179 | −16% |
Returning student | 185,251 | −20,364 | −11% | 164,887 | −7,129 | −4% |
Special admit student | 104,649 | 3,710 | 4% | 108,359 | 4,575 | 4% |
Student Type . | Fall 2019 . | Change to Fall 2020 . | Percent Change . | Fall 2020 . | Change to Fall 2021 . | Percent Change . |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Continuing student | 883,678 | −97,702 | −11% | 785,976 | −88,547 | −11% |
First-time student | 259,578 | −29,533 | −11% | 230,045 | −1,258 | −1% |
First-time transfer student | 116,887 | −8,261 | −7% | 108,626 | −17,179 | −16% |
Returning student | 185,251 | −20,364 | −11% | 164,887 | −7,129 | −4% |
Special admit student | 104,649 | 3,710 | 4% | 108,359 | 4,575 | 4% |