PIERRE, S.D. South Dakota’s four technical colleges reported an increase in spring enrollment. Deputy Director Scott DesLauriers told the Technical College Board last week that most of their growth was in two areas…
“You’ll see on the bottom row that this is increase of enrollment by 253 students compared to spring 2022/2023. The majority of that growth is isolated to two career clusters. Duel enrollment saw the largest increase of 162 and also health sciences also saw about 100 more enrollments.
DesLauriers says tech college enrollment nationally hit peaks and valleys during the pandemic.
“The two-year sector through the pandemic experienced quit a bit of volatility with enrollment decreases. But our system weathered that really well. This academic year in particular though, those national trends are starting to stabilize. And in fact the two year sector is now experiencing growth.
DesLauriers says dual enrollment is a good entry into higher education.
One of the largest increases is with dual enrollment. That certainly aligns with our trends here in South Dakota and what this report is reflecting. It’s an interesting perspective. We know that dual enrollments are a great gateway to post-secondary education. Students who engage in those opportunities are much more likely to start college and finish.
Spring system enrollment was six thousand, nine hundred fifty eight, up from six thousand, seven hundred two last year.
