Illinois Central College saw headcounts jump up quite a bit this fall semester, but they're still not back to pre-pandemic levels.
Enrollment is currently just a bit over 7,500. That's up 7.6% from last year, but below the more than 8,800 students enrolled in fall 2019.
Dr. Sheila Quirk-Bailey is ICC's president. She's encouraged by the upward trajectory.
"It's a different world post-COVID, so I think we've found the mix that really serves people in the community the best," she said.
Quirk-Bailey said enrollment is up among all major categories of students, including recent high school graduates, continuing students, upskilling adults, dual credit students, and stopouts who are picking back up courses after taking an extended break.
She said growth was more uneven across the scale previously.
"I think when we first started to come back, not that we weren't doing any gen eds, but we saw a higher pop in career-related. Now again, we're seeing it more across the board," she said.
Quirk-Bailey noted the number of students opting for remote coursework is around 30%. That's up from the 15% online pre-COVID, but down significantly from the 100% during the pandemic.
Quirk-Bailey said many students are taking advantage of the flexibility online classes offer and are taking a hybrid approach to education depending on their schedules and needs. But she said she does enjoy having more people back on campus.
"It's so nice to walk down the hall now. And you'll hear a couple of students complaining about the long walk in from the parking lot, right? We had a magician in over lunch hour the other day, and all the tables were full. So people were like, oh, there's not even a place to sit? Isn't that a great problem to have?"
