St. Louis Community College boosts enrollment by 10%

ST. LOUIS — Four years ago, voters approved a $350 million bond issue and a property tax hike to support it for St. Louis Community College with the hope that upgrades to facilities and programming would bring in more students.

The referendum followed a 37% enrollment decline in less than a decade, including a drop to 15,206 students in fall 2020 after the COVID pandemic hit.

Enrollment this fall has climbed back to pre-pandemic levels with 17,236 students across the four-campus system.

The funding paid for six new buildings with labs, classrooms and career training facilities in health sciences, manufacturing, transportation, financial services and science, technology, engineering and math, known collectively as STEM.

“We went to the voters and asked a simple question, ‘Do you want us