NCCC Sees 8 Percent Enrollment Spike in Fall 2024 Semester

SARANAC LAKE – North Country Community College marked the start of classes on Monday with its fourth consecutive semester of increased enrollment.

"Our faculty and staff are excited to welcome students and begin this new academic year on such a positive note," said college President Joe Keegan. "We are pleased to see such strong interest from the residents of our communities in attending the college, and we will continue to do all we can to support our students and help them be successful."

This is North Country's 57th year of serving the communities of Essex and Franklin counties. The college has three locations – Malone, Saranac Lake, and Ticonderoga – and is also offering classes at correctional facilities in Ray Brook and Malone, as part of the Second Chance Pell program.

Part of the State University of New York system, North Country has 30 degree and certificate programs – with both in-person and online offerings – designed to give students the knowledge and skills to immediately enter the workforce or prepare them for transfer to a four-year college or university

The number of degree-seeking students attending the college this fall is up 8 percent, from 710 to 764. In addition, North Country has a large number of students pursuing short-term offerings – including a new Direct Support Professional microcredential – which when added in gives the college a total of 830 students this fall.

"We are so excited to see continued growth in both our application and enrollment numbers for the fourth semester in a row," said Kyle Johnston, vice president for marketing and enrollment. "We're especially thankful for our all those who contributed to the North Country Community College Foundation, which allowed us to secure more scholarship and emergency funding for our students. Making college as affordable as we possibly can is and will continue to be our top priority."

Programs with significant enrollment increases this fall include Health Science, which has 154 students registered across all three campuses compared to 110 last year, a 40 percent jump. The college's Human Service, Chemical Dependency Counseling and Child and Family Services degrees, which are offered online, in Saranac Lake and Malone, and are up 20 percent from 63 to 75 students combined. Criminal Justice, AAS Business Administration, Massage Therapy and Early Childhood Education programs also saw enrollment growth this fall.

A new Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics program, which the college runs in partnership with Herkimer College, has 14 students enrolled. Another new offering – the Direct Support Professional microcredential – is off to a strong start with a total of 44 students enrolled. And a new hybrid AAS Nursing program that launched in the spring saw all 29 students who were enrolled continue on to the fall semester. A new group will start this program in the spring of 2025.

Keegan said the growth in enrollment this fall would not have been possible without the efforts of the entire college community, and all those partners who support the college and its students, including New York State, Essex and Franklin counties, and supporters across the region and beyond.

"We are grateful for the efforts of so many and the investments in the future of the college and our students," he said. "We are seeing the first fruits of those commitments reflected in these positive enrollment figures and, we expect, later in dividends that will benefit our students, their families, employers and communities."