NEMCC One Of Only Three Community Colleges Statewide To See Enrollment Increase

BOONEVILLE, MISS. (WCBI) – A local community college is one of only three in the state to show an enrollment increase during the past year.

Northeast Mississippi Community College reported a one point 26 percent increase for the Fall 2021 semester over its fall 2020 enrollment numbers.

That comes at a time when many community colleges are seeing decreases in enrollment.

The enrollment increase comes during a time when the college announced free summer school for those who qualified, along with a $550  living expense stipend and a free iPad for those attending classes.

NEMCC’s President, Doctor Ricky Ford says there has been a lot of emphasis on recruitment.

“Our goal is to attain four thousand students and at some point in time, hopefully next year we will do that, we have a large freshmen class coming in , so our efforts are going to be focused on retention efforts of our freshmen class and reaching out to the 2022 fall class to equal that and hopefully that will get us to our goals,” Dr. Ford said.

The only other two community colleges in Mississippi to see enrollment increases for the fall 2021 semester were East Mississippi in Scooba and Mississippi Delta in Moorhead.