By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)

The state’s community colleges saw an increase in enrollment this year for the first time since 2010.

The Department of Education’s, Jeremy Varner, says that’s somewhat of a surprise given the state’s low unemployment.
“Community college enrollment is in part counter-cyclical. So we’re pleased to see enrollment growth this fall, particularly given the tight labor market, right, normally, we would expect to see some declines. So Iowa is bucking this historical trend,” Varner says. He says the growth is split among the 15 schools.

“So enrollment is up point-six percent to just over 82,000 students. This growth is not evenly distributed amongst our institutions, seven of our community colleges are up, eight are down this fall. But we are seeing more institutions seeing growth,” he says. Varner says told the Board of Education this is a preliminary report on the fall and it shows the move away from full-time students continues.
“Students are continuing to shift from full-time to part-time. This is a trend that’s been going in our data since at least some time in the mid-1970s. So for a very long time,” Varner says. “Part of that is driven by growth and concurrent enrollment. But this fall, we’re also seeing growth in traditional student enrollment, those students that are in that 18 to 24 range.”

He says they are seeing fewer students who are beyond that 18 to 24 age. “We do have a decline in non-traditional student enrollment this fall, which is expected in a tight economy, but traditional students and concurrent enrollment students are up,” Varner says. “One trend that we are watching that we’re a little nervous about is that immediate enrollment is still down. That’s basically the students who just graduated from high school in May and are showing up in the fall. That number is still down a bit.”

Varner says the highest enrollment comes in one particular area. “Enrollment in career tech programs is up 3.2%. That’s more than other program areas. So students are really looking at those career programs that are going to get them skills, they’re going to help them in the economy,” he says. “That’s more nursing students, business students, these kinds of things are thinking there is that has to be in part driven by growth in our career academies and regional centers.”

Varner says they saw in online enrollment by 4% this fall after having huge surges in online enrollment during the pandemic. He says the number of high school students who enroll in community college classes is up by more than 44% with high school students in that concurrent enrollment making up 45% of the students and nearly 29% of community college credit hours. Varner says he will have more details on the makeup of the community college students in January.

Iowa Lakes Community College had the largest enrollment increase at 8.5%, followed by Southeastern at 6.7%. Northwest Iowa and Des Moines Area Community College each saw a 5.4% increase. Northeast Iowa was up 3.4%, Southwestern was up 2.5%. Iowa Central was up one percent.

Hawkeye Community College lost the most enrollment, dropping by nearly 6%. Western Iowa Tech dropped by 5.5%. Eastern Iowa was down 4.2%, Iowa Valley dropped 1.8%, Kirkwood was down 1.5%, Iowa Western dropped one percent, Indian Hills dropped seven-tenths of a percent, and North Iowa Area dropped one-tenth of a percent.

By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)

The Iowa trapping season is underway, and a DNR expert says the prospects are good. Furbearer biologist, Vince Evelsizer, says there shouldn’t be any trouble finding furs.

“Most of our species of furbearers and Iowa are doing well, the populations are either stable, or increasing slightly,” Evelsizer says. “Examples of that would be things like coons and beavers, even red fox, that sort of thing.” Evelsizer says the only two species that they’re concerned about are foxes and muskrats — which have seen declining populations. He says making a profit from trapping is a little less certain.

“It does look like there continues to be a relatively weak, wild fur market going into this fall and winter. However, some species like bobcats, and beavers, have increased a little bit in value,” he says. Evelsizer says the price of the furs is influenced by several things.

“In general, it has to do with the garment industry, and where supply and demand issues are. Right now, for example, in the past six, eight years, especially China and Russia, were two countries that were the bigger for buyers,” Evelsizer says, “and relations with those two countries in the US has been tense past few years, and that can affect trade on things like wild furs.” He says there’s been around 14 to 15-thousand licensed fur harvesters the past few years.

“When the fur market is weak, it does tend to lead to a lower harvest or effort from our harvesters,” Evelsizer says. “But that being said, there’s still a lot of fur harvesters that go out and do it. You know, your regardless of the fair market value, they go and do it because they love trapping or they love predator hunting or they love running their coon dogs.” Evelsizer says some trappers aren’t concerned about the fur price.

“Some folks are interested in the meat, you know, things like a beaver, for example, can be actually very good eating,” he says. Trappers don’t have to sell their furs this year — Evelsizer says they can keep them for one year and see if prices go up before they have to sell. He says there is one more beginning trapper event for the year this Saturday in St. Charles. It’s for beginner trappers of all ages and you can sign up on the Iowa DNR ‘s website to register.