Community colleges in Michigan and the Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana are noticing an unprecedented growth in student enrollment from last year. 

The number of students enrolling in Michigan community colleges is unmatched by anything in history. Mike Hansen, the president of the Michigan Community College Association, said 275,000 students are enrolled in community colleges throughout the state—a 10 percent increase from fall enrollment.

Hansen noted that while the increase is a good thing, he is concerned about growing class sizes.

"In other words there really isn't the classroom space," Hansen said. "There's classrooms being taught on weekends and midnight, Henry Ford Community College for example is parking at the mall and they bus the students in. There's no parking anymore at Washtenaw."

Community colleges in other parts of the Midwest are seeing the same trend, including the Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana.

Ivy Tech’s Richmond campus has 4,225 enrolled for the spring semester, which is up from last year's 2,910—a 45.2 percent increase.

Diana Pappin, executive director of resource development and media relations, said the school has increased class sizes to both accommodate rising demand and address a cut this month to the remainder of the two-year budget cycle.
 
Statewide, Ivy Tech has seen a historic spike in enrollment since last spring—a nearly 40 percent increase from 90,135 students to roughly 120,000—making it the college's largest semester enrollment in its history. 


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