Heart of Illinois community colleges take pandemic-related enrollment hit

Posted on February 24, 2021
Heartland Community College, based in Normal. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Heart of Illinois ABC

NORMAL – The pandemic is taking a toll on community colleges in the Heart of Illinois.

Heartland Community College, based in Normal, is reporting a 19.1% enrollment decline from the spring of this year to the spring of 2020, while enrollment at Illinois Central College is down 13.5% during the same time frame. ICC has campuses in East Peoria and Peoria.

Administrators cited the COVID-19 pandemic for the decline and believe that trend is also prevalent for community colleges and universities nationwide.

“Am I confident things will turn around? Absolutely, because I believe in the higher education system, and I believe we are going to make a difference in what’s going to turn the economy around for a lot of areas within our state,” said Kim Armstrong, vice president in charge of marketing at ICC.

Armstrong said a quarter of spring classes at ICC have some form of in-person learning this semester, and that’s expected to double to 50 percent in the fall.

She expects ICC will see see an enrollment rebound between 2023 and 2025 when more people reach college age.

Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected]. 

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…