The years of decreasing enrollment at Central Oregon Community College appears to be coming to halt from the increase of students this fall semester.

With a year past any kind of COVID-19 or pandemic induced restrictions, COCC campuses are thriving with credit and non credit students bringing enrollment up by about 30% from last year.

“We’re open door, open enrollment, open access and that makes it a unique kind of opportunity across the state, and across the nation,” said Cindy Lenhart, the Instructional Outreach Dean for COCC.

The two distinct areas Lenhart has seen an increase this year is the Adult Basic Skills Program at COCC, an instructional noncredit program for students who are preparing for their GED test and the English Language Learning program, for students looking to improve their English skills.

“I think people have had some time to settle back into the new normal…they have the capacity and the ability to maybe now go back,” said Lenhart.

Lenahrt noted that even with the increase of student life, this should not affect situations like parking, due to the balance of students online and attending other campuses.

Lenhart said there has been a great deal of outreach effort across the board to the local community to help with enrollment.

“COCC is not the only college with higher enrollment; the increase is seen nationally,” said Tyler Hayes, the Director of Admissions at COCC.

“It’s hard to say one reason why enrollment is up, but it’s more exciting than anything. We have the course offerings for both in and out of the classroom students. There are more options and more accessibility for students than previous years, and more programs,” said Hayes.

Hayes said that even during the pandemic, COCC stayed committed to offering courses even with low enrollment.

“All the campuses make it really easy,” said Fabian Ruiz, a returning student to COCC this semester. “I want to learn now and COCC was the cheapest option.”

Ruiz said he is able to save money each semester on gas because of the convenience of COCC’s different campuses.

Lenhart said COCC will continue to put out efforts to keep enrollment up for the future.