Ari Bloch of Ashland takes a welding class Wednesday at the RCC Table Rock Campus in White City.

Rogue Community College is experiencing an enrollment boom, resulting in the institution adding more class sections and faculty members, but it still has not caught up with its pre-pandemic enrollment numbers.

RCC — with campuses in Medford, White City, Grants Pass and Kerby — reported 4,881 students for the fall 2023 term, 662 students more than fall 2022. The community college’s full-time equivalent for the fall 2023 term is 1,088 students — 95 more than in fall 2022.

RCC officials said fall enrollment figures won’t be finalized until the fourth week of the term, which began Sept. 25.

Juliet Long, RCC vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer, said it’s hard to pinpoint the factors behind the enrollment increase, which has been trending up over the past few terms.

“Enrollment increases like this tend to happen when there’s an economic downturn; that’s not the case right now,” Long said.

She speculated the enrollment increases could be part of a delayed rebound from the declines seen during the pandemic. It could also be from RCC’s new advertising efforts, which the community college was able to do thanks to the state-funded program “Future Ready Oregon.”

Long likened RCC’s enrollment rebound to a doctor’s prescription.

“When you go and you say you have a headache — (the doctor says) ‘drink more water, exercise, take aspirin and go for a walk.’ I think it’s probably a combination of things,” Long said. 

RCC student Jacob Howard of Medford is one of the many students who is newly enrolled previously studied psychology at University of Maryland Global Campus, but he decided to switch to a more lucrative field. That’s what brought him to RCC, where he is studying to be an emergency medical technician.

“I thought it was pretty random I was going back to school,” he said. “Apparently, everyone had this idea.”

More students, more teachers

As a result of the enrollment spike, RCC has added over 100 course sections since the fall 2022 term. Now, the community college has almost 900 course sections. 

Almost every department has added new sections, according to Long, but writing and science have added the most. Social sciences and math followed close behind.

Career and technical education courses have also seen large enrollment gains, Long said, including welding, which is up 80%.

“We’ve had more students from the local charter schools enrolling,” said Anthony Knight, an instructor in the welding department. “Outside of that, I just think we sell a good product. Our department has a lot of great instructors, and we’re able to level with people at different stages in their life.”

Adding new course sections resulted in RCC hiring 57 new instructors for the fall term, bringing its faculty to almost 300 people, Long said.  

Knight had been teaching part-time at RCC since 2017, but became a full-time instructor in the spring term. He said his new status was a direct result of RCC’s enrollment increase.

“Once (enrollment) was getting to the point of critical mass and the opportunity was presented to me, No. 1, it made me happy, but No. 2, it got me excited to continue to move forward in my career and be able to help these students learn the skills of the trade,” Knight said. 

He added that having more students “makes the day go by really quickly because we are busy all the time. Every five minutes or so, there’s a new question that’s being asked (by students).”

Ailym Pinero Requena — who earned an associate of general studies and a certified nursing assistant certification from RCC after she moved to the U.S. in 2017 — was an adjunct instructor before she became full-time in the current term. 

“It feels great because now I can focus on my students,” she said, adding that many of her students are juggling being full-time students, workers and parents. “If possible, I try to be very understanding and flexible. Sometimes, when they ask for help, it’s a little bit late and I cannot help them as much as I would like.”

She said teaching more students does not feel overwhelming. 

“It feels wonderful to see our college full of students,” Requena said. 

‘Excited about the future’

In 2022, RCC had 931 full-time students, compared to 1,356 students in 2018-19, according to information provided by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which oversees the state’s colleges, universities and community colleges. In 2022, RCC’s overall headcount was 4,245 students, compared to 6,203 in 2018-19.

“We’re happy to see students returning and look forward to getting to those numbers … similar to before the pandemic,” Long said. “Although that was during an economic downturn, so we may not hit as high as that.”

Now that the U.S. is no longer in a pandemic, RCC will continue to monitor workforce demand, Long said. 

“We will invest our resources where the local economy needs us to,” she said. 

“I’m excited about the future,” Requena said. “This year has been a good year, and next year will be the best year.”