Enrollment at Citrus College dropped during the pandemic but is now finally recovering.
Dean of Enrollment Gerald Sequeira said enrollment of full-time equivalent students in spring 2023 is up 8.5%, which is about 774 more students than were enrolled in spring 2022.
Enrollment for students who aren’t full time has more than doubled since spring 2022 with a 102.2% increase, which is about 182 more students.
Sequeira said although the college is still not above pre-pandemic enrollment levels, the progress is “a significant improvement.”
Before the pandemic, enrollment at Citrus was already on a downward trend. Sequeira said citrus enrollment numbers had been decreasing for two to three years before the pandemic hit and said that peak enrollment in recent years was around 2017.
This was due to economic factors, which severely impacted enrollment.
Sequiera said usually, when the economy and job market are doing good, people forgo their education and join the workforce since the motivation for higher education is usually to be used as a gateway to good paying jobs. When the economy is doing well already, people have less reason to go to college. The reverse of this is also true if the economy is doing bad, more people decide to study and pursue higher education so that they can access better jobs and make more money.
The pandemic uniquely affected enrollment because it did not follow these trends. During the pandemic, the economy stagnated but enrollment decreased.
Sequirea said this was due to a multitude of factors, some of which were that many high school graduates decided to take gap years in 2020 and 2021 and that some high school students were apprehensive about transitioning to higher education after taking online classes during the pandemic.
Citrus College Executive Director of Communications Melissa Utsuki wrote in an email that enrollment also decreased because students had health concerns and since many schools transitioned to being fully online, parents could not enroll in classes since they needed to be home with their children.
The recent increase in enrollment can also be attributed to many different factors, mainly that the pandemic affects students’ daily lives less and less the more time passes. Students having health concerns are less common, parents have time to come to class and high school graduates feel more prepared to go to college after having their senior years in person.
Sequeira said that part of the reason enrollment numbers are increasing is just that they decreased so much during the pandemic.
But the pandemic ending is not the only reason enrollment has gone up. Citrus deans, directors and faculty have worked through the pandemic to make education more accessible.
Utsuki wrote that Citrus has worked to make classes more flexible by shortening term lengths and increasing the options of in person, hybrid and online classes.
By making classes more flexible, students can join the workforce while they also go to school.
Additionally, Utsuki said the Citrus students services team has made their support and counseling scheduling more streamlined and flexible so students have access to help when they need it.
