BEND, OR -- Central Oregon Community College expects to see more students this fall. "The total headcount, so that's credit and noncredit, is up about 11%. That's compared to last year at this time. So that will fluctuate until we actually start fall," says COCC's Kayleen Schweitzer. "It's hard to know exactly why those numbers are up, but we did have an increase in new students last year, so the population of continuing students is up around 19%. So, that alone is going to add a lot more enrollment."

There's also been an effort to connect with what's known as "stopout" students, "So these are students who are registered, completed a class or dropped their course and didn't return," says Schweitzer, "That's up around 28%. So just a new way to outreach towards those students is really helping in bringing people back." Other categories have also risen, "Students over 40 are currently up over 30%. And then, we always continue to evaluate and create new degrees [and] certificates to meet the needs of our community and the students. This year, we're adding medical coding, STEM in early learning and automotive maintenance and light repair certificate."

For those hoping to live on campus, she suggests applying now, "Wickiup Hall still has space. We do encourage, again, to go ahead and apply for that sooner than later, so the student can make sure to be done with that before they start classes."

The deadline to enroll in fall term is September 15.