Enrollment Concerns

We are roughly 3 months away from the start of the fall semester at area colleges and universities, and many are still waiting to find out what the college experience will look like.

We are roughly 3 months away from the start of the fall semester at area colleges and universities.

And many are still waiting to find out what the college experience will look like - on campus or online.

Quentin smith speaks with a community college and university about the impact this pandemic could have on student enrollment... in 2019, the mississippi university for women saw a 3.8 percent increase in enrollment last year with 2,813 students.

" we want to remain optimistic that student enrollment will either remain the same or even increase, but it's way too early in the game to tell" dwight daughty works in the admissions office at muw, and says while they're uncertain about fall enrollment numbers...one thing that is certain is they're seeing a high volume of students filling out online applications to enroll.

"despite the pandemic i believe that students are still interested in achieving their academic goals."

Daughty they're preparing themselves as if students will return to campus.

That's why the university is using innovative ways such as virtual tours, online orientation and webinars to help them connect with prospective students.

" these methods have allowed us to keep students engaged for the days and weeks to come leading up to registration and classy story.

We have a phrase that we've started called "the w anywhere," these innovations have allowed us to make the w assessable no matter where students are."

Universities aren't the only ones faced with enrollment challenges.

East mississippi community college president dr. scott alsobrooks says he expects enrollment to take a slight dip when the fall semester begins.

" i think there's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of people might fear getting back into the classroom."

Dr. alsobrooks says they're offering both online and face to to face classes this fall, and students can choose whichever option they're most comfortable with.

" tuition at a community college is already much cheaper than a university, so even if it's a university student that might be a little fearful of going back to a university campus, they can enroll with us online and get the same type courses and save themselves some money and then transfer those courses back to the university."

While, enrollment is expected to be down early own, alsobrooks expects that number to quickly surge as people look to develop or find a new skill to get back into the labor market.

"we are going to have those offerings out there for students, or those people that might be displaced from the labor market that want to find their way to the yokohamas, or the paccars, or any of these great companies that i've been recruited to this area by the link.

We want to help them solve their human resource issues and keep them at full employment, so we're going to have classes.

We are going to have lots of classes."

Muw has created a task force to decide when students will be able to return to campus .

At emcc, dr. alsobrooks says they are waiving all act requirements and current students will not have to pay off their current bill to enroll for the upcoming semester.