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As Louisiana begins to recover from the pandemic, many in our communities are turning attention towards opportunities for advancing workplace skillset or retooling for a new career. Northshore Technical Community College (NTCC) is well positioned to meet this community need by offering a wide-range of workforce training and transfer programs for students seeking a competitive edge in today’s global economy.

NTCC is excited to announce that, in response to this need, the college has achieved a 23-percent growth in summer student enrollment (headcount) and a 14-percent increase in credit hour enrollment. Dr. William Wainwright, NTCC Chancellor, noted the importance of the summer enrollment increase.

“This serves as a testament to the collective work of our Gator family in advancing opportunities and building futures for our graduates,” he said. “As citizens enter new job markets, accelerate careers, and change industries, our mission has never been more important.”

With registration for its summer and fall semesters opening early, NTCC has remained intentional with how it is actively seeking to recruit students.

The pandemic brought about much advancements and support for virtual learning and work. This has led to an increase in the number of students choosing to register for online courses, increasing enrollment from Fall 2019 to Fall 2021. While this doesn’t necessarily mean students prefer online over face-to-face post-pandemic, as it may result from other factors, like adding additional online classes to the course catalog.

Wainwright noted the growth in online enrollment is “a healthy trend regarding student enrollment as we gain momentum towards the fall semester,” and that the college must “continue to meet students where they by sustaining new and dynamic learning environments for students beyond the pandemic.”

In addition to online growth, NTCC achieved a 2.3-percent increase last fall in traditional student enrollments in hands-on technical training and current enrollment projections for fall 2021 are trending up. The college has also offered several STEAM outreach programs this summer, including seven St. Tammany Parish Campus visits to local schools, Gear Up Camp at Southeastern, in addition to a new Science of Food Camp in July at the Hammond Area Campus.

Wainwright pointed out that “this is a testament to the efforts of the college to bring students back on campus for hands-on learning in technical fields of study” and that “This is a promising trend as our capacity restrictions have been lifted.”