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Across the state, from San Diego to the northern border, enrollment at many community colleges has plummeted during the pandemic, threatening the future of some campuses, the system’s Board of Governors has learned.
Systemwide, more than 260,000 fewer students enrolled in fall 2020 compared with fall 2019,
a 16.8% drop. Enrollment in California’s community college system, the largest in the nation with about 2 million full- and part-time students, has largely been flat for the past decade.
Colleges that experienced significant drops could be at risk if they “don’t stabilize or build back enrollment” over the next several years, said Paul Feist, a spokesman for the California Community Colleges chancellor’s office, reiterating a warning that was delivered in a memo to the systemwide Board of Governors last month.
Many colleges don’t have a system in place to evaluate emergency aid requests and instead fell back on students’ existing financial aid information from documents like the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. While the FAFSA paints a picture of a student’s family income history and financial situation, it does not accurately estimate a student’s immediate financial need because it is based on income from previous years, not up-to-the-minute information.
Some colleges lack the staffing necessary to sort and approve emergency aid requests. They’ve struggled to hand out the money fast enough to be helpful to students.
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Across the state, from San Diego to the northern border, enrollments at many community colleges have plummeted during the pandemic, threatening the future of some campuses, the system’s Board of Governors has learned.
Systemwide, more than 260,000 fewer students enrolled in fall 2020 compared with fall 2019,
a 16.8% drop. Enrollment in California’s community college system, the largest in the nation with about 2 million full- and part-time students, has largely been flat for the past decade.
Colleges that experienced significant drops could be at risk if they “don’t stabilize or build back enrollment” over the next several years, said Paul Feist, a spokesman for the California Community Colleges chancellor’s office, reiterating a warning that was delivered in a memo to the systemwide Board of Governors last month.
Mohamed Sadek for TIME Twyla Joseph in Islip Terrace, N.Y., on Feb. 5, as her day begins
The first sign that Twyla Joseph’s college application process was not going to go as planned came on March 13, 2020, when, a day before her scheduled SAT, she learned the test had been canceled. The May and June tests were also canceled as coronavirus cases surged.
Joseph never got to take the admissions test. She barely knows her high school teachers now that she takes all her classes online at home in Islip Terrace, N.Y. She missed out on seasons of varsity cross-country and track, and lost contact with the coach who “used to give us really good life advice.” During the five months she was furloughed from her job at Panera Bread, she spent the money she’d been saving for college. And while she’s back at work now for about 28 hours per week, often dealing with customers who refuse to wear face masks, she is worried not only about whether she will be able to