Returning students or frequent visitors to Delta College may have noticed many new faces in the crowd as the Fall 2023 semester gets underway. The college’s enrollment is currently at 18,658 students. While that number is a 1 percent decrease from before the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a noticeable increase from the past few semesters.
In 2019, Delta had 18,871 enrolled students.
According to a graph showing enrollment provided by Delta’s Public Relations department, these numbers saw a sharp decline of nearly 1,800 students in 2021, leaving Delta with 16,532 enrollments.Virtually every class was ported into the online Canvas platform for remote learning, which continued the trend in declining numbers into 2022. Enrollment had bottomed-out at just 16,220 students.
“[…] we do have more students this fall, but we also are seeing students taking more classes, which is good news. The bottom line is that we are not quite back to pre-COVID enrollment yet, but we are certainly making progress, and that’s great to see. The vibe on campus has been amazing this week, I think,” said Alex Breitler, Delta’s director of Marketing and Communications, via email.
Mustang Week, which started Aug. 21, saw students congregating throughout campus. The Office of Student Activities oversaw the week of events where activities, music, and food were available, according to the Delta College website.
Superintendent/President Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson made public statements about the current enrollment numbers in an Aug. 25 email to campus.
“[W]e are only -1 [percent] compared to pre-pandemic enrollment. This is a major accomplishment for the College. Additionally, students are taking more units than pre-pandemic, as we are up 4 [percent] … We are seeing the impact of increased enrollment throughout campus. In the Delta Connect Center this week, a total of 3,188 students were served,” said Lawrenson in the email.