Southwestern Michigan College has achieved its third consecutive year of enrollment growth. Enrollment rose by 2.8% this fall to 2,044 students, compared to 1,989 students a year ago.

“As I said last month, this cycle has been quite a trip,” SMC President Dr. Joseph Odenwald said. “But we have persisted, and thanks to the hard work of the marketing, admissions, advising and financial aid teams, we have enrolled over 2,000 students again for the first time in five years. This marks only the second time in the past 25 years we have recorded three straight fall-over-fall increases. I want to especially thank Vice President Katie Hannah, who jumped on this train in January and never wavered in her belief that we would make our goal.”

SMC previously had three consecutive annual increases in enrollment from 2008-2010, when a record number of unemployed workers returned to school in search of new careers.

“We live in a demographically challenged area with declining numbers of high school students,” SMC Chairman Tom Jerdon said. “And of course we never hope for a recession, so hats off to administration, because this growth does not happen without a lot of hard work all summer and a full commitment to SMC’s mission to provide affordable high-quality education.”