SOWELA Technical Community College in Lake Charles, Louisiana, continues to experience massive growth in the number of its registered students. In the current Spring semester, enrollment has increased by 19% from the same time last year. Last year, Spring semester enrollment was up 7% more than doubling the year-over-year percentage increase in enrollment at SOWELA in 2020. SOWELA’s current enrollment is 3,553 students.
The enrollment uptick bucks a national trend of enrollment decreasing by 7 percent between 2010 and 2017 (from 18.1 million to 16.8 million students), and undergraduate enrollment is projected to increase by only 3 percent (from 16.9 million to 17.4 million students) between 2017 and 2028, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. SOWELA is already outpacing the national projection for 2028.
“The enrollment growth at SOWELA continues to increase and again this semester the College has experienced an incredible and recording setting 19% increase. Many would think with the massive industrial growth in Southwest Louisiana that our enrollment would coincide with the workforce needs directly related to these industrial expansions.” said SOWELA Chancellor Dr. Neil Aspinwall. “However, the enrollment growth we are experiencing is not limited to our technical/industrial program areas; we are seeing growth in program areas such as Aviation, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Chemical Lab Technology, Graphic Art, and Nursing. I can directly attribute this growth to the great student focus we practice on a daily basis and the extraordinary dedication of our faculty and staff.”
SOWELA was most recently named the #1 community college in Louisiana, according to WalletHub, for Cost and Financing, Employment Outcomes, and Student Outcomes and currently ranks 11th in the nation among community colleges.
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