Enrollment is dipping at Iowa Western Community College, driving down revenue and contributing to the college’s recent decision to increase tuition by $11 a credit hour. The Daily Non Pareil reports the decline follows a larger trend of decreasing community college enrollment across Iowa and nationally.
Among the possible reasons for the decline, according to college spokesman Don Kohler, is a dip throughout the area in high school enrollments. Full-time enrollment at the college was 9,971 in 2013 and 9,586 in 2015, a 3.86 percent drop.
Most community colleges in Iowa began to see enrollment declines around 2011, according to a data tool released late last month by the Iowa Department of Education’s Division of Community Colleges.