As Odessa College celebrates its 75th anniversary, the institution passed another historical milepost, enrolling a record 8,020 students in the 2021 fall semester. That number represents a 13.9 percent increase over the previous enrollment record of 7,044 students set in fall 2020, a news release detailed.
In contrast to the enrollment trends across the state and the nation, the release said, Odessa College has set a new record for enrollment every term since 2014, and sets this latest record at a time when overall community college enrollment in Texas and in the nation has taken a downward turn.
According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the number of students attending Texas’ community colleges dropped below the enrollment levels in the state’s four-year universities for the first time since the 1990s, as many two-year schools continue to grapple with sharp enrollment declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.
In fact, the data show that Texas community colleges have seen a nearly 11 percent drop during the pandemic, equivalent to a loss of about 80,000 students.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board also indicated that the drops and increases experienced by schools vary widely between two- and four- year schools. Two-year community and state colleges saw enrollment drops — one school by as much as 28 percent — with only four two-year schools, including Odessa College, experiencing enrollment increases.
Meanwhile, public university enrollment jumped almost 2 percent in that time. Independent universities remained flat, while the number of students enrolled at health-related institutions rose nearly 10 percent.
