We turn to examining how enrollment intensity and student success changed during the pandemic. We first focus on patterns of course-taking. The pandemic might have impacted the number of units taken by students, affecting their longer-term time to degree or transfer preparedness. One possibility is that students dislike online learning and might have shifted their total units downward, taking only the most important courses that they needed and postponing others. Alternatively, with higher unemployment, students may have pursued more full-time education. Table 3 reports the distribution of students taking different unit loads from Spring 2019 to Fall 2021. On average, course loads did not change substantially. The percent of students taking 15 or More units, for example, was 10 percent in Fall 2019, 10 percent in Fall 2020, and 10 percent in fall 2021. Similarly, the percent of students taking 15 or more units was 9 percent in Spring 2019 and 10 percent in both Spring 2020 and Spring 2021. Although it may be the case that students who remained enrolled tended to be those inclined to take higher course loads, the lack of significant changes in the distribution of unit totals provides some evidence that there was not a major shift toward lower or higher loads during the pandemic. The losses in the pandemic were not simply due to low-unit enrollment students.
Distribution of Student Unit Loads in California Community College System
. | Fall 2019 . | Fall 2020 . | Fall 2021 . | Spring 2019 . | Spring 2020 . | Spring 2021 . | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unit Load . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . |
B. 0.1—2.9 | 82,470 | 6% | 55,028 | 4% | 62,761 | 5% | 95,080 | 7% | 81,852 | 6% | 65,187 | 5% |
C. 3.0—5.9 | 431,169 | 29% | 425,507 | 31% | 398,852 | 32% | 428,449 | 30% | 388,435 | 29% | 418,655 | 33% |
D. 6.0—8.9 | 278,163 | 19% | 261,752 | 19% | 236,250 | 19% | 280,113 | 20% | 260,728 | 19% | 253,241 | 20% |
E. 9.0—11.9 | 228,797 | 15% | 210,802 | 16% | 183,563 | 15% | 225,761 | 16% | 214,844 | 16% | 194,482 | 15% |
F. 12.0—14.9 | 316,147 | 21% | 264,856 | 20% | 231,434 | 19% | 272,116 | 19% | 261,939 | 20% | 217,811 | 17% |
G. 15 + | 147,492 | 10% | 138,045 | 10% | 118,958 | 10% | 133,970 | 9% | 134,239 | 10% | 120,740 | 10% |
. | Fall 2019 . | Fall 2020 . | Fall 2021 . | Spring 2019 . | Spring 2020 . | Spring 2021 . | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unit Load . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . | Number . | Share . |
B. 0.1—2.9 | 82,470 | 6% | 55,028 | 4% | 62,761 | 5% | 95,080 | 7% | 81,852 | 6% | 65,187 | 5% |
C. 3.0—5.9 | 431,169 | 29% | 425,507 | 31% | 398,852 | 32% | 428,449 | 30% | 388,435 | 29% | 418,655 | 33% |
D. 6.0—8.9 | 278,163 | 19% | 261,752 | 19% | 236,250 | 19% | 280,113 | 20% | 260,728 | 19% | 253,241 | 20% |
E. 9.0—11.9 | 228,797 | 15% | 210,802 | 16% | 183,563 | 15% | 225,761 | 16% | 214,844 | 16% | 194,482 | 15% |
F. 12.0—14.9 | 316,147 | 21% | 264,856 | 20% | 231,434 | 19% | 272,116 | 19% | 261,939 | 20% | 217,811 | 17% |
G. 15 + | 147,492 | 10% | 138,045 | 10% | 118,958 | 10% | 133,970 | 9% | 134,239 | 10% | 120,740 | 10% |
Notes: Calculated from administrative data from the California Community College system. The total number of students enrolled at each semester unit load level is reported. Enrollment is for all colleges except three colleges that did not report enrollment data in Fall 2020. See text for more details.