The pandemic and the tight labor market are cited as two of the main causes for a drop in community college enrollment in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Education’s Community College administrator Jeremy Varner says the drop was about one and a half percent.

Iowa Valley Community College District, with locations in Marshalltown, Iowa Falls and Grinnell saw a drop of two point eight percent. The biggest drop-off was 11 percent at the Des Moines Area Community College. Iowa Central had the largest increase at nine point eight percent.