MESA Ariz.
Despite a growing population in Maricopa County, enrollment in the county’s community college system is dropping.
Seven of the district’s 10 colleges lost students this school year, according to the Maricopa County Community College District.
Enrollment numbers at the largest and most established colleges are dropping fastest, according to district data.
Scottsdale, Mesa and Glendale community colleges and Phoenix College have each lost 10 percent of their enrollment since 2004.
The colleges are now worried about how to get students to class, not just where to place them.
“It’s become an issue and I don’t think it’s ever been before, we were such a high growth market,” said Reyes Medrano, a Paradise Valley Community College business professor and president of the faculty association. “But it certainly is now.”
