Community Colleges Confront Slumping Enrollment. Can it be Fixed? Technical Schools Offer Stiff Competition

Blake Flanders knows that enrollment at community colleges has dropped precipitously. He’s worried about what that means for the future. 

Flanders, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents, said that Kansas community colleges have lost more than 40,000 total students since 2012, creating a sustainability issue for the system. 

“You need a certain amount of enrollment to sustain an institution,” Flanders said. “Just in terms of (full-time equivalent) enrollment (at) community colleges, we’ve got 13 of the 19 that are 1,500 students or less, and of those 13, in terms of full-time equivalent students, five are below 1,000.” 

Missouri is staring down the same enrollment barrel as Kansas and the other 48 states. Despite increases in enrollment this academic year, enrollment was down roughly 30% in Kansas and Missouri between 2012 and 2023. 

Modern day community colleges were born in the 1960s out of a desire to democratize education, according to Kimberly Beatty, chancellor of Metropolitan Community College (MCC) in Missouri. 

“For people who look like me, people who came from low-income families, women, were not able to get into the universities and colleges,” Beatty said. “Community colleges created an equitable path for folks to go to school.” 

While enrollment at community colleges declines, enrollment in technical colleges, which focus on vocational training for industries like construction and automotive repair, in Kansas and Missouri has spiked more than 85% since 2012. 

Shawn Strong, president of State Technical College in Linn, Missouri, said that this increase means that his school is expanding its space. 

“If you look at the last five years, between what we have going on right now, (and) going back five years, we spent about $100 million on this campus,” Strong said. “We grew so quickly that we’re just out of space.” 

Community colleges, to address their plight, have focused on their own technical programs to create a direct-to-workforce path. Beatty, the Metropolitain Community College chancellor, said that she can’t just focus on enrollment numbers – her focus is the entire student experience. 

“That means that you need to have good faculty, which we do,” Beatty said. “That means you need to have good advisors, which we do. That means you need to have good programs, which we do have outstanding programs.” 

A Nationwide Problem 

Tom Brock, director of the Community College Research Center, said that this issue isn’t just a local issue – nationwide, community colleges have been dealing with enrollment for years. 

“If you go back longer…there are a couple of facts that account for the decline,” Brock said. “The most important is that community colleges always played, at least traditionally, a counter-cyclical function within the U.S. economy.” 

Brock said that as the economy gets better, community colleges tend to see enrollment drop since potential students instead go into a workforce that has an abundance of well-paying jobs that require little training.  

Employment Trends

Historically, competition for community colleges comes from regional four-year schools and for-profit online and technical colleges, according to Brock. Four-year flagship universities usually enroll students who are intent on school due to the nature of the admissions process. 

Pete Belk, director of admission and enrollment strategy at Johnson County Community College (JCCC), said that his biggest competitive worry was for-profit industry certifications from companies like Cisco and Google. 

“If someone can go to Cisco directly and get a Cisco certification, there’s no reason for them to spend 16 weeks going through a class here to get that same thing,” Belk said. “You might only pay $300 for the class and another $100 for the books. If you couldn’t do that, if you could pay $1,000 to go directly to Cisco or to go to Centriq or one of those other for-profit type places…I’ll take a vacation for two weeks and go to school and learn something that I know is going to get me a credential.” 

However, Brock said that the solution is not just for community colleges to wait out the economy. 

“They need to demonstrate that students can come in and earn a credential with value in the labor market within a reasonable period of time,” Brock said. “Historically, these have been trouble spots for community colleges.” 

Community colleges that wait out the economy produce students with lackluster wages, Brock said. Instead of focusing on programs with low wage potential, such as cosmetology, Brock said that schools needed to focus on developing programs like healthcare and information technology, which have higher wages. 

“Community colleges need to do a much better job of getting students in and out in an efficient way, with a degree or credential that has value in the job market,” Brock said. “That’s where community colleges, quite honestly, have not done quite the kind of job they need to do.”  

Chris Kuehl, chief economist at Armada, an economic intelligence firm based in the Kansas City area, agrees. Kuehl said that there is a gap between what community colleges train for and what companies need, posing a problem for community colleges.  

“The only thing that comes up a lot with the companies and the associations I work with is that there’s still a pretty serious disconnect between business and education, all the way down to primary and secondary,” Kuehl said. “It’s like the companies will say, ‘Colleges, schools, don’t talk to us.’ They don’t find out what (companies) need, and so they keep graduating people that don’t necessarily have skills and education that (companies are) looking for.” 

Community colleges are funded through three methods in Kansas in Missouri – mill levees, state funding and tuition. The latter two are directly tied to enrollment, and when enrollment drops, community colleges are unable to offer resources and support that may help students stay enrolled. 

Beatty said that Metropolitan Community College was able to stay fiscally sound during the pandemic, when this issue was worsened, but that the funding model needed to change. 

“When you have less resources, you tend to do less, but we were so fiscally sound that we didn’t have to lay anybody off,” Beatty said. “We did offer a (retirement incentive), and some people took advantage of that.” 

According to the Community College Research Center, low-income, diverse and first-generation college students are less likely to access support at a community college. This, in turn, lowers enrollment due to the sheer number of students dropping out of community college. Flanders said that in Kansas, only one in three students who enroll in a community college finish their chosen program. 

“Community colleges need to be much more intentional about helping students get on a path that leads to a credential of value, making sure all the supports and structures are there that students need to support that goal,” Brock said. 

Flanders said that in Kansas, only one in three students who enroll in a community college finish their chosen program. 

“Once you recruit a student, we need to make sure that they have success as they go through,” Flanders said. “We’re also focused on our populations that haven’t been served as well by higher education.” 

‘We’re Training You While You’re Working in a Job’ 

Strong said that because State Technical College uses the same technique for all students that other colleges exclusively use for at-risk students, the school’s graduation rate is almost 80%. 

“Students come here, (and) we know in the first two weeks, the student is going to make a decision whether they made the right decision or not, whether or not they are going to persist,” Strong said. 

Strong noted that technical colleges serve a different demographic than colleges like Johnson County Community College – technical schools are only focused on training students in vocational work to go into the workforce. But Strong said that the school attempts to have amenities and activities, often built and maintained by its own students, to keep students engaged. 

“While we don’t have sports, we do have activities every night,” Strong said. “We have the activity center over here with three basketball courts, working track, and a really nice gym downstairs. We have Osage View that has a movie theater, bowling, a pool, bowling alley, nightfall golf course, (and) free music outdoors.” 

Kevin Kelley, CEO of Peaslee Tech in Lawrence, runs what he calls a different kind of school. Peaslee Tech is not associated with the Kansas Board of Regents system – rather, the school is an independent nonprofit. Kelley said that he credits a non-traditional approach for the success of Peaslee. 

“Our folks, for the most part, are working in the field,” Kelley said. “We’re training you while you’re at work in a job.” 

Although Peaslee Tech partners with several area high schools, the average age of a student is 27. As most students at State Technical are fresh out of high school, each school approaches supporting their students academically differently. 

In that sense, Kelley said, the students aren’t the client for Peaslee Tech – the companies are. Inside the halls of Peaslee, company names adorn the walls. Kelley said that’s because it’s on the employee to make progress on their apprenticeship. 

“If you come here and you’re in an HVAC program, and you go to an HVAC contractor, and then they see you’re in a program and you’re trying to improve yourself and get into their industry, you’re highly likely to get hired,” Kelley said. “It’s much different if you go in there off the street and say, ‘I want to learn HVAC, I want to work for your company.’” 

Given that most students at State Technical are fresh out of high school. Strong said it takes more prodding and accountability from the school. 

“If you flunk a class or you start missing class, you’re going to get recorded,” Strong said. “You’re going to talk to a counselor, you’re going to have to come up with a plan. If you continue to skip class, you’re going to sign an agreement that says, ‘I understand if I continue to skip class, I’m going to get kicked out of school.’” 

The methods work. Both Peaslee Tech and State Technical College have job placement rates of 99% after graduation. Both have some writing and basic communication requirements, and State Technical College does issue associate’s degrees. And both are focused on equipping students with the skills both colleges believe they need to get a job the day they hit the workforce, without much general education. 

However, neither school, nor any technical school in Kansas and Missouri, comes close to the enrollment levels that traditional community colleges see. 

Community Colleges, the Dream Creators 

Pete Belk knows that college isn’t for everyone, and he isn’t afraid to tell people he meets with at JCCC. That’s why Belk said JCCC developed technical programs with Johnson County area high schools. 

“There’s a program called Excel in CTE…which allows students who are currently in high school to take career technical education related classes for free while they’re still in high school,” Belk said. “The theory being that college isn’t for everyone and we want to get you job ready when you’re in high school.”  

The Missouri community college system has an equivalent program called the A+ Scholarship Program. 

Johnson County Community College and Metropolitan Community College both offer expansive technical programs. Beatty said that MCC’s mission is different than a technical college. 

“If your dream is that you want to get trained because you want to augment something that you’re already doing, because you’re already working, we’re going to support that dream,” Beatty said. “We’re here to support dreams. If that means you’re going to get a job, if that means you’re going to transfer, if that means I’m going to go work at mama’s restaurant, we’re going to support that dream.” 

Despite these programs, Kansas City-area community colleges have seen decreases roughly in line with other community colleges. Combined, the three – JCCC, MCC and Kansas City Kansas Community College – lost more than 19,000 students, or 29.5% of their enrollment, between 2012 and 2023. 

Part of the way community colleges across Kansas and Missouri are remedying this drop is by partnering with local companies to provide training programs, in much the same way technical colleges already do. Belk said that JCCC already has several partnerships with companies like BNSF and Amazon. 

This is also the case at Metropolitan Community College, said student Keith Gilliand, who is a skilled trades apprentice at General Motors. Gilliand said that the classes he and other apprentices were taking were part of the apprenticeship. 

“We work at General Motors now,” Gilliand said. “We go clock in in the morning, come to class, go back to work, clock back in, finish our shift, and go home and do it all over again the next day. This is just a step up to get off the assembly line.” 

On top of partnerships, Beatty resoundingly rejects that Metropolitan Community College, or any of the community colleges she has worked at, doesn’t provide enough academic support to students. 

Rather, as Beatty said, small class sizes and a higher-than-average advisor to student ratio has made sure that Metropolitan Community College supports its students. 

“My vision is for equitable access,” Beatty said. “We have a college wide goal to increase retention for employees and for students, that our retention rate increases, that our completion rate increases, and that comes with us improving our services and improving programs.” 

Belk said that along with support provided by the Kansas Board of Regents, Johnson County Community College is a year into a partnership with the Community College Research Center on a program called Guided Pathways, a which redesigns the college experience from the ground up. 

“It came out of our strategic plan that we’re going to implement mandatory orientation and mandatory advising,” Belk said. “So right now it’s only those first-time freshman…We’re still figuring out the ways to make this work.” 

Both JCCC and Metropolitan Community College work with local high schools to train and recruit students to community colleges. Beatty said that MCC serves the Kansas City Public Schools district in several ways. 

“We have early college academics. That’s when they come onto campus, they take their classes on campus, they do their last two years, and they graduate with a high school diploma and a college degree at the same time,” Beatty said. “Sometimes they come and just take dual credit classes…. And then we have concurrent enrollment, where you have students that on their own, maybe at night they’re coming and taking classes.” 

Belk said that about 25% of JCCC’s headcount is high school students, where they recruit heavily. With that, Belk said that JCCC is careful to ensure that the advice they give high school students is targeted. 

“The Johnson County mindset is big and boisterous,” Belk said. “So, when moms are at book club together, and they’re bragging on each other. It’s, ‘how many college credits does Jimmy have?” 

There is a kind of border war happening between JCCC and MCC, as each are the biggest community college in their respective state. Belk said that JCCC actively recruits from Missouri, which contributes to JCCC being the biggest community college in either state. 

“People in every college are going to tell you they’re unique, right?” Belk said. “We really are because of the county…We’re a wealthy educated county. Yes, our competition is KCK and Metropolitan, but it’s also Mizzou and KU and K-State and Arkansas.” 

Outside of the Kansas City area, Flanders said that as a survival tactic, consolidation of some community colleges could be a solution to enrollment decreases. 

“I think a local community college has to decide whether or not that’s the right pathway for them,” Flanders said. “Local trustees need to decide whether the community college is just getting too small, really, to effectively use the resources.” 

JCCC and MCC are both looking to the future. Belk said that there’s still much work to be done, especially with the expansion of classes as a mechanism to increase enrollment. After all, JCCC has several thousand students to make up for recent declines in enrollment. 

“Where I would like to see us in five to 10 years is getting much more focused on shorter term classes that are going to help…people where they are and what their immediate need is,” Belk said. “Rethinking our course delivery options and coming up with new and creative ways to meet students of all ages.” 

Despite ongoing issues, both Beatty and Belk say that their goal is to serve the students and the community. Beatty said that in her job, she’s most proud of the college’s ability to provide access and a pathway to prosperity. 

“We change lives in that way,” Beatty said. “And the good news is that we’re changing lives and we have created a path to prosperity that many people can’t get at KU because they can’t get in. No shade.” 

Matthew Petillo is a Dow Jones reporting intern at Kansas City PBS/Flatland. He is a computer science and journalism student at the University of Kansas.