April 2022 Volume 4, Issue 12
Sauk Valley Community College rising once again
Sauk Valley Community College has seen a healthy regrowth in enrollment over the past year. Over the past two years, SVCC has seen a dip in enrollment, but as of the spring of 2022, those enrollment numbers appear to be on the rise once more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a primary source of blame for low attendance in both high-school enrollment as well as college enrollment across the United States. But in some cases, colleges like Sauk Valley Community College saw changes in class structure rather than a huge drop in enrollment.
Though it is true that Sauk saw a drop in attendance from 2019 through 2020 going from 2,443 students for the school year of 2019 to a total of 1,866 students in 2020–a loss of 577 students–there are other factors at work at any school campus that may lower enrollment.
Nevertheless despite the dip in enrollment, the total number of students appears to be recovering at Sauk, going from 1,866 total enrolled students in 2020 back up to 1,923 students at the very first day of class in 2021. The total enrolled now, according to Sauk’s own website, svcc.edu, is reported to be at 2,559 students in classes.
An interesting comparison to these statistics is in the number of credit hours that students took over this past year. While Sauk has seen an uptick of total number of students enrolled, the total number of credit hours taken at Sauk remains low, demonstrating that students may yet be gaining confidence to take on more difficult and longer courses.
The total number of credit hours taken by students in 2020 stood at 15,004 credit hours, which is actually higher than the beginning enrollment for 2021 at 14,468 total hours. This difference would show that more students are taking shorter classes, which would account for the reason that the campus may appear less populous over the year.
COVID-19 has only been one factor for the drop in enrollment, there are others. Jon Mandrell, Vice President of Academics at Sauk Valley Community College, said another factor to low enrollment is found in the economy overall. Mandrell said, “When the economy is way up, and there’s jobs out there, our enrollment tends to be down because people need less training.”
Mandrell also stated that the exception to this rule was during the COVID-19 pandemic and a large number of industries were shut down. Mandrell explained that during the recession in 2009, Sauk saw a large spike in enrollment with packed classrooms and one of the largest numbers of students in recent memory.
One of the changes to the college that came from the pandemic is the greater amount of adaptability at the college. Though online courses have been available for some time, now more than ever students can may choose to learn remotely, even while at work or when they do not have the option to attend an in-person class.
An instructor’s ability to be able to teach in-person classes as well as teaching students who are remote provides a greater range for students who may not be able to attend classes otherwise. Mandrell said, “We have some students that are full-time employees elsewhere… and they say ‘what if I just tune in today?’ So they’re able to learn from work, and that helps too.”
In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sauk Valley Community College has grown from its struggles and improved in methods of teaching. These new methods have increased the college’s reach and appeal to new students near and far.