College President Dr. Jesse Ulrich stepped into his role in July just in time to help prepare for the incoming fall students.

“Iowa Central had a phenomenal year. We were able to transition and do face-to-face classes. With our students throughout the pandemic, we responded really well and kept everyone as safe as possible. With the enrollment going up 9.8 percent, it’s an indicator that our region still values Iowa Central as an exceptional college experience,” he said.

Headcount 10 days into the fall semester was 5,009 students, up from 4,561 students in the fall of 2020.

The Fort Dodge campus had 1,137 of those students living on campus.

Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs Students head to their first classes Tuesday morning at ICCC.

Total credit hours were also up, climbing from 46,285 to 50,511.5 when comparing fall 2020 to fall 2021. Iowa Central’s increase was among the highest in the state.

“We had the highest increase in enrollment in the entire state for community colleges. So that reflects well on our faculty and our staff on what we’re doing with students,” said Ulrich. “Opening up the Greehey Family Student Success Center was also a tribute to an ongoing effort to improve our campus.”

Compared to fall 2020, the college experienced increased enrollment in a majority of its career and technical education programs. Automotive technology, criminal justice, computer networking technology, fire science, and HVAC are just a few that saw increases.

Ulrich said his transition from Fort Dodge Community School superintendent to Iowa Central president has gone well so far.

“I have a phenomenal leadership team who really led the college for the six months while we did not have a person in the president position,” he said. “I also want to commend the leadership of our Board of Trustees throughout the search process and ultimately their decision on making sure the next leader of the college was someone that they knew was going to have a vested interest in its success.”

In addition to the excitement in Fort Dodge, Iowa Central also opened a new facility in Storm Lake. The college held a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opening the Iowa Central Industrial Training Center on July 28.

Students will learn trades like welding and industrial mechanics using equipment that they will use in their future careers.

The $2.8 million building is located on a 12-acre site on Lake Avenue North in the industrial park on the north side of Storm Lake. The project was funded through the $25.5 million general obligation bond issue approved by area voters in February 2018. The project was approved by the college’s Board of Directors in 2019.

In November, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to return to a per-credit hour tuition rate to begin in the fall of 2022.

Ulrich recommended that the board discontinue the flat-rate tuition structure, which was implemented in the fall of 2019.

The flat-rate tuition provided one fixed rate for students taking 12 to 18 credit hours. According to Ulrich, the break-even for the college was 14.5 credits, implying that students taking less than 14.5 credits would be paying more per credit hour and those taking more than 14.5 credit hours would be paying less, offering a bundle-type incentive. The hope of this concept was to increase enrollment.

Board President Mark Crimmins said, “It was something different and we wanted to try it. We thought it might help our students, which it did, but it didn’t necessarily help all of them.”

Ulrich said over the past two and a half years and adding in the projection for the second semester of 2021-2022, Iowa Central lost about $1 million in revenue due to the flat-rate tuition.

In December, Iowa Central Business and Community (ICBC) launched a new workforce initiative, “Training Today for Tomorrow’s Workforce,” for the 2022 year in response to the local workforce shortage.

Iowa Central Business and Community is committed to enrolling 300 students in the healthcare continuing education classes, 300 students in the transportation continuing education classes, and increasing the number of women enrolled in manufacturing continuing education classes.

Because of expansion in GAP Tuition Assistance, ICBC can offer these classes for free upon student’s application completion.