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Idaho community college presidents report rapid enrollment growth, urge state help for capacity
Summary
Presidents from College of Western Idaho, College of Southern Idaho, College of Eastern Idaho and North Idaho College told the Senate Education Committee their colleges are seeing multi‑semester enrollment growth, program wait lists and workforce demand, and asked the Legislature to support capacity funding in the governor’s budget.
Four Idaho community college presidents told the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5 that rising enrollment and workforce demand have created capacity shortfalls in nursing, welding, automotive and other career-technical programs and urged state help to expand training space and faculty.
“For some, it’s a class. For others, it’s a certificate. For others, it’s a career technical or a transfer program,” Gordon Jones, president of College of Western Idaho, told the committee, describing CWI’s student body and program mix. He said CWI serves “over 31,000 unique individuals” and has more than 120 programs, with more than 55 classified as career technical.
The presidents framed the problem as one of both demand and access. Jones said CWI has eight consecutive semesters of enrollment growth and cited program wait lists — “we have over a hundred…
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