A report released Tuesday by S&P Global Ratings offers a hopeful outlook for community colleges.
The report says community colleges are showing signs of rebounding from pandemic enrollment and financial losses. Across most rating categories, enrollment rose in both fall 2022 and fall 2023; preliminary fall 2024 data suggests the trend will continue. The report describes the trend as “bifurcated,” however, given that the growth is uneven.
“Many community colleges have now begun to see a rebound in demand from the recent low points and are projecting continued growth over the next few years returning to historical levels,” the report reads. But larger community colleges benefit “from a broader reach and beneficial corporate and/or higher education partnerships” while “community colleges in areas with weakening demographics, such as declining high school population trends, will continue to face heightened enrollment challenges.”
The report also notes that despite the loss of federal COVID-19 relief funds and other pressures like inflation costs, most community colleges fared better financially than they expected, maintaining “relatively consistent margins” compared to recent years. That’s partly because community colleges have enjoyed increased state support due to improvements in state credit quality, according to the report.
