Owens Spring 2025 enrollment increases 6.7%

Owens Community College continues to have increased enrollment growth this Spring, with 7,396 students enrolled. The total number of enrollment represents a 6.7% increase compared to Spring 2024's total of 6,929 students. Owens welcomed 768 new students for Spring 2025, its highest number since enrolling 792 in 2017. Over the course of the 2024-2025 academic year, Owens enrolled 2,702 new students, a 24.4% increase compared to the previous academic year's enrollment of 2,172. "We've really tried to approach everything from a comprehensive approach," said Dr. Blake Renner, Owens vice president of enrollment management and student affairs. "Really focusing-in on the student experience, from the efforts we've put forward to our marketing, to the efforts that we put forward to the programs and from the experiences that students have when they first interact with us through the enrollment process, all the way through. In their coursework and in to graduation, we really tried to focus in on that student experience in its entirety and eliminating anything that would prohibit them from reaching their academic goals" A contributing factor to Owen's success is the reorganization of its Student Affairs division and the creation of a Re-Engagement Office. The Student Affairs division aims to better assist students, while the Re-Engagement Office focuses on re-enrolling students who have not attended Owens for the previous two semesters. "We've been proactive in our outreach with those students," said Renner. "We've really started to engage with them and try to focus on the things that were preventing them from continuing on in their education. Seeing what things we can do to eliminate anything that would've stopped them from returning and working with them individually to develop an educational plan. To persist in their education has been a big driver and also that proactive piece of engagement has been really key to all of this. We've become a very proactive and engaged institution with learners throughout their processes and throughout the entirety of their enrollment cycles." The new initiative boosted returning student enrollment for Spring 2025 by 34.3%, 314 students compared to 234 in Spring of 2024. Additionally, College Credit Plus enrollment has increased with a total of 1,724 students compared to 1,415 in spring of 2024, a 21.8% increase. The College Credit Plus program allows students to earn college credit while still enrolled in high school. "We have assigned CCP advisors who work with those schools to work with individual guidance counselors and students to engage with them," said Renner. "The schools themselves enroll students within Owen's CCP processes to try to make it as seamless as possible for students to earn credits while they're enrolled in their high school. Our whole goal is to increase access to as many learners as we can and we feel like this is just an extension of our mission overall." Owens enrollment census took place on January 27th, 2025. Enrollment census occurs each semester on the 14th day after classes begin. "Our staff have put into ensuring that we are well positioned to be student ready and well positioned to help students achieve their academic goals," said Renner. "That's really our mission is to be focused on how we can fulfill the needs of our community by being a community college. That's important to us, and I believe that this really exemplifies that effort and focus for us and that we're living our mission to try to provide educational opportunities to as many learners as we can."