No matter the phase, education in America has taken a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Post-secondary schools across the country, and the halls of two-year pillars like Hopkinsville Community College, served no exception.
But during Monday’s Board of Directors meeting for the critical southwestern Kentucky campus, HCC Chief Student Affairs Officer Angel Prescott offered encouraging enrollment news — in which the student population has increased from 1,837 in the spring of this year, to 2,038 this fall.
Prescott said more than half of HCC’s typical annual student body is a part-time collegian, part-time everything else — so to see a 10.9% enrollment boost in less than a year is promising.
Prescott credited a myriad of resolutions and new opportunities that have helped in this small bounceback of enrollment, including the ability to return to visiting high school campuses as well as reconnect with Fort Campbell’s active-duty soldiers — neither of which was possible during the height of the pandemic.
HCC’s enrollment hasn’t quite bounced back to its three-year high of 2,656 set in the fall of 2019, and Prescott pointed to other issues (aside from the coronavirus) that aided decline — including a massive transition in admissions staff personnel just prior to the pandemic, and the loss of interpersonal communication with area high schoolers and incoming soldiers during lockdowns.
Prescott particularly noted not being able to attended the weekly Newcomers Fair in Fort Campbell for those tough months — where hundreds of incoming soldiers quickly learn about the area — really hampered recruiting efforts, as did some specific training for active-duty soldiers.
This has led to creating some campus flexibility.
There are supported funds, Prescott added, for the hiring of at least two college recruiters to target underrepresented minorities while helping with retention, and there was an increase in the 2021-22 budget for marketing.
HCC President and CEO Dr. Alissa Young said the institution recently completed three successful accreditation visits with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing and the Kentucky Board of Nursing — each with its own notes and recommendations.
Furthermore, she added the HCC umbrella will soon be offering new programs: four certificates in air conditioning technology and one certificate in as a telehealth technicians associate — all pending SACSCOC approval.
Young also said an appraiser has returned an undisclosed value on a piece of land adjacent to the HCC campus in Hopkinsville — one that possesses great interest to the board.
For more information about HCC, visit hopkinsville.kctcs.edu.
