For the fall 2023 semester, Iowa Central President Jesse Ulrich announced that the total increase in credit hours from one year ago is up .54 percent, continuing the upward enrollment trend to a total 12.34 percent increase since the fall 2020 semester.

Tom Beneke, vice president of student services and enrollment management, reported that total enrollment for the fall 2023 semester includes 4,934 students taking a combined 51,503 credit hours, up from 51,257.5 total credit hours one year ago.

Core credit enrollment also increased 5.79 percent in 2023 to 34,074 credits, up from last year’s 32,208.

Distance learning enrollment in the eight-week online programs increased 30.3 percent from 3,661 total credit hours in 2022 to 4,771 credit hours in 2023.

The largest overall growth area was seen in the number of students enrolled in Iowa Central’s Triton Academies. Enrollment increased 93 percent from high school students taking 559 credits in 2022 to 1,083 credits in 2023

In addition to the increase in credit hours, Ulrich said students living in on-campus housing increased by around 40 students from one year ago.

“We are sitting at very good numbers as we head into the new academic year,” Ulrich said of the increases.

Beneke said it is a campuswide effort to see positive growth.

“When you see numbers like this, it’s a college-wide effort; it’s not just one department or group of staff that makes this happen, it is a unified effort,” he said.

He credits both student life and a positive workplace environment for the college’s success.

“Our faculty and staff make the students a priority,” said Beneke. “When people come to our campus, they see it and feel it and they want to be here. Everyone from our president on down has a responsibility to recruit and retain students at Iowa Central and it really does take everybody to grow our enrollment.”