ST. LOUIS — Four years ago, voters approved a $350 million bond issue and a property tax hike to support it for St. Louis Community College with the hope that upgrades to facilities and programming would bring in more students.
The referendum followed a 37% enrollment decline in less than a decade, including a drop to 15,206 students in fall 2020 after the COVID pandemic hit.
Enrollment this fall has climbed back to pre-pandemic levels with 17,236 students across the four-campus system.
The funding paid for six new buildings with labs, classrooms and career training facilities in health sciences, manufacturing, transportation, financial services and science, technology, engineering and math, known collectively as STEM.
“We went to the voters and asked a simple question, ‘Do you want us to expand programming in these high-need workforce areas?’” Chancellor Jeff Pittman said Tuesday. “The vision was to align these programs with the careers that exist in the St. Louis market, which the employers desperately need, and they’re good paying jobs for our students.”
The enrollment boost comes as traditional four-year colleges nationwide are competing for fewer students due to rising tuition costs, uncertainty over federal funding under the Trump Administration and a birth rate that has been on the decline since the 2008 recession.
The community college track appeals to students seeking job skills and lower costs. The tuition rate of $121 per credit hour at STLCC has not increased in five years, Pittman said.
“Gen Z is pretty discerning. A lot of the students we’re seeing coming in right now, they see the value proposition that we’re offering them,” he said. “We can get students through with no debt or very little debt.”
While other local community college systems have not released current enrollment figures, they are following the trend of boosting their trades programs.
This fall, Jefferson College in Arnold expanded its veterinary technology building and renovated its facility for workforce and employment services. The two-year college’s Law Enforcement Academy and emergency medical technician/paramedic facilities also got recent upgrades.
The Regional Workforce Innovation Center opened in August at St. Charles Community College’s new campus in Wentzville. The center offers associate degree programs and training in industrial trades including plumbing, welding, robotics and commercial driving.
The next move for STLCC is introducing younger students to career and college pathways.
“We’re going to be working a lot closer moving forward with K-12 schools,” Pittman said. “Kids have to start thinking about these things earlier.”
Pittman said he would like to see every high school student in the St. Louis region graduate with a “market-value asset” that could include early college credits, trade certificates or job internships.
Ultimately, the goal is to provide opportunities for local students to enter the workforce and remain in their hometowns, he said.
“If they see a viable career path, they’re more apt to pursue it and they’re more apt to stay,” Pittman said. “Keeping our young people and our talent in St. Louis is what we all need to work on. That seems like a win-win-win.”
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Blythe Bernhard | Post-Dispatch
Education reporter
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