The number of students enrolled at Illinois’ 48 community colleges dropped 13.7 percent since the fall of 2019, according to a new enrollment survey published by the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB).
That decline during the coronavirus pandemic compares with a decrease of 7.5 percent in community college enrollments nationwide between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020, the ICCB reports.
In total, 234,132 students enrolled at Illinois’ two-year campuses this fall, which is 37,204 fewer students than were enrolled in fall of 2019, according to the ICCB. The campuses seeing the greatest declines in headcounts over that time period were Prairie State College in Chicago Heights (down 29.4 percent), Joliet Junior College (down 28.3 percent) and Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg (down 27.1 percent).
Only three campuses recorded enrollment increases over that yearlong period: Shawnee Community College in Ullin (up 8.6 percent), Malcolm X College in Chicago (up 4.7 percent) and McHenry County College (up 4.6 percent).
Though enrollments declined and courses moved online over the past year, the ICCB reports that the two-year colleges are now graduating more students. The Illinois Community College System had 66,000 student completions this year, compared to 49,627 in 2006, according to the ICCB report.
The numbers indicate that the pandemic has created new challenges for the population it serves, from fiscal to technical, the report states.
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Headcount Changes Among Illinois Community Colleges
| Community College | Fall 2020 Headcount | % Change in Headcounts From 2016 to 2020 | % Change in Headcounts From 2019 to 2020 | Ranking of Enrollment Changes, 2019-2020 |
| Prairie State | 2,714 | -39.5% | -29.4% | 1 |
| Joliet Junior | 10,267 | -33.3% | -28.3% | 2 |
| Southeastern Illinois | 1,263 | -30.6% | -27.1% | 3 |
| Lewis and Clark | 4,683 | -35.6% | -27.0% | 4 |
| Frontier | 1,262 | -35.3% | -26.6% | 5 |
| Richard J. Daley | 4,998 | -32.5% | -23.4% | 6 |
| Kennedy-King | 1,880 | -45.9% | -22.0% | 7 |
| Richland | 2,235 | -21.3% | -21.5% | 8 |
| Rend Lake | 1,802 | -27.6% | -21.2% | 9 |
| Elgin | 7,882 | -20.5% | -20.6% | 10 |
| Southwestern Illinois | 6,906 | -27.4% | -18.8% | 11 |
| Morton | 3,618 | -17.7% | -18.5% | 12 |
| Harry S Truman | 5,269 | -41.4% | -17.2% | 13 |
| South Suburban | 3,388 | -8.5% | -16.7% | 14 |
| Black Hawk | 3,743 | -33.3% | -16.3% | 15 |
| Wabash Valley | 2,222 | -48.7% | -16.0% | 16 |
| Highland | 1,276 | -31.3% | -15.6% | 17 |
| Moraine Valley | 11,026 | -26.6% | -15.4% | 18 |
| Illinois Valley | 2,415 | -24.7% | -15.0% | 19 |
| Kaskaskia | 2,785 | -24.0% | -14.3% | 20 |
| Kishwaukee | 2,626 | -30.4% | -14.2% | 21 |
| Sauk Valley | 1,386 | -26.7% | -14.2% | 22 |
| College of Lake County | 11,854 | -19.7% | -13.7% | 23 |
| Kankakee | 2,245 | -27.1% | -13.7% | 24 |
| Lake Land | 3,862 | -24.4% | -13.5% | 25 |
| Waubonsee | 7,564 | -25.0% | -12.7% | 26 |
| Oakton | 7,079 | -25.0% | -12.4% | 27 |
| Olney Central | 906 | -24.4% | -12.4% | 28 |
| College of DuPage | 21,010 | -21.9% | -12.1% | 29 |
| Parkland | 5,758 | -23.9% | -11.6% | 30 |
| Olive-Harvey | 1,931 | -35.2% | -11.3% | 31 |
| Harold Washington | 6,468 | -23.8% | -11.1% | 32 |
| John A. Logan | 3,328 | -24.8% | -11.1% | 33 |
| Spoon River | 1,239 | -20.6% | -10.6% | 34 |
| Heartland | 4,485 | -15.1% | -9.8% | 35 |
| Illinois Central | 7,912 | -14.8% | -9.6% | 36 |
| Harper | 12,199 | -13.7% | -9.5% | 37 |
| Lincoln Trail | 723 | -22.6% | -9.3% | 38 |
| Wilbur Wright | 7,953 | -21.7% | -9.2% | 39 |
| Carl Sandburg | 1,755 | -8.9% | -8.8% | 40 |
| Lincoln Land | 4,977 | -13.4% | -8.6% | 41 |
| Triton | 8,819 | -22.5% | -7.9% | 42 |
| Danville Area | 2,462 | -7.7 | -6.9% | 43 |
| Rock Valley | 5,762 | -25.2% | -5.4% | 44 |
| John Wood | 1,881 | -4.4% | -2.7% | 45 |
| McHenry County | 7,814 | 22.6% | 4.6% | 46 |
| Malcolm X | 7,324 | 18.5% | 4.7% | 47 |
| Shawnee | 1,176 | -35.5% | 8.6% | 48 |
| TOTAL | 234,132 | -23.0% | -13.7% |
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