Spring enrolllment at AACC this semester is the highest it has been since spring 2020.
Likewise, last fall’s enrollment also was higher than any fall semester since 2020.
AACC reported that 10,576 students are enrolled in classes this semester, 395 more than last spring, a 3.9% increase.
“We obviously had a dip during the COVID years, and we’re starting to bounce back a little bit,” Erin Reeder, the associate vice president of enrollment management, said. “So [it] looks like fall 2022 was kind of our lowest point, and since then, we’re starting to trend back up.”
In spring 2022, 9,229 students were enrolled at AACC. The following spring, enrollment was up to 9,683.
Reeder attributed the increase of adult learners coming back to school to an expanded selection of online classes.
“We are trying to focus on adult learners,” Reeder said. “So we do have a … very big increase in adult learner populations, and that’s in all [age] categories.”
According to the American Association of Community Colleges, enrollment in public two-year colleges grew 5.8% in fall 2024, more than initially estimated. Enrollment for spring 2025 increased nationwide by 3.9%, according to the association.
“Coming back from COVID would definitely, I think, be a nationwide trend that you’ll see, but there could be other situations,” Reeder said. “So for instance, Maryland in particular, we had the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. So we saw an increase in dual-enrolled students. … You might not see that in, say, North Carolina, if they don’t have a focus on that.”
Reeder added: “Now we are kind of trending back down with dual-enrolled students because the county school system put some limitations on how many courses a student can take.”
AACC saw a 5.8% decrease in dual-enrollment students, 104 fewer students than last spring.
Enrollment in health sciences classes increased by 18%, or 240 students, while engineering and math enrollments were up 26%, or 70 students, Reeder said.
Minority students saw an 8.8% increase compared to last spring, including a 10.2% increase in both Black and Hispanic/Latino students and an 11.8% increase in students of multiple race/ethnicities.
