Northwest College is looking into why, after a steady rise in enrollment in the last few years, the college is now bucking the state trend in the wrong direction. 

College enrollment is down 4% over last year,  President Lisa Watson announced at the State of the College address Monday morning, while college enrollment statewide is up 3%. 

“Unfortunately, our enrollment is down, and we are not looking as good as we did last fall,” she said. “Currently, we are down 4% in head count and 6% in credit hours. So if you translate that head count into faces and bodies, that’s about 50 people that we’re missing right now.”

Last fall enrollment hit 1,488 students, which was roughly 100 more than the fall of 2023 and the largest since 2018. 

College administrators know the decline in enrollment comes mostly from traditional students, because residence hall occupancy this year is down to roughly 300 after rising the last few years to more than 340. 

“We are starting to dig into the details behind that,” Watson said. “Enrollment numbers can continue to change with last minute registrations … But obviously this is a little disappointing, and so we want to figure out what’s going on there.”

She said part of the decrease in the halls comes from having less international students than last year due, in part, to new federal policies restricting visas from certain countries such as Turkmenistan, which had been a big pipeline for students to NWC in the last few years, even prompting a senior Turkmen embassy official to stop by last spring for a talk. 

However, at 94 students Watson said NWC is only down about 10% from last year, which she said is actually positive they’ve held on to so many international students. 

“We’re hoping that the federal government and the Turkmenistan government will be able to reconcile that freeze and open that back up,” she said. “So, you know, as far as international enrollment, we could be in a lot worse shape there.”

A lot of colleges are, according to national reports.

And while overall enrollment is down, Watson said dual/concurrent enrollment continues to rise at NWC (up 13%) as well as statewide, as high schools continue to see the value in connecting students with college classes. Dual enrollment students are allowed two college courses each semester, according to Powell High School’s 2024-2025 course catalog. The catalog includes a class worth as much as four credits.

Also, while degree seeking students may be in lower numbers this year, Watson noted the college’s CDL program continues to grow.