In preparation for the Sept. 5 start of the fall semester, the Community College of Rhode Island held open enrollment Monday morning on its Knight Campus, with attendees ranging from young-faced high school graduates to older generations looking to further their education.

The event comes at a time when  many colleges are  still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Student Government President Charles Padgett, who enrolled during the pandemic, has been working on the return to normal since his election, making it one of his primary goals is to increase student engagement on campus. Sitting at the Student Life table, he handed out flyers with a list of all the clubs available to students and encouraged potential students to get involved. Padgett notes that although the student body is made up of commuters, clubs and other activities can help keep the campus vibrant and alive after classes now that the pandemic is over.

The main purpose of Open Enrollment Day is to increase enrollment, addressing another problem brought about by COVID-19. During the pandemic, enrollment declined 17%, but since the spring 2022 semester, says Amy Kempe, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at the college, CCRI has “continued to make gradual enrollment gains by applying intense strategic focus to recovering learners we lost and enrolling new students.” These gains include a 3% enrollment increase from fall 2021 to fall 2022, with particularly strong recovery (13%) among students enrolling straight out of high school, whose two-year education is free in keeping with the school’s Rhode Island Promise scholarship. Enrollment last fall was 12,263.

In addition to the Promise scholarship—which also covers GED recipients of high school age—the college touts its Joint Admissions Agreement, a partnership with the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College that sees students attend their first two years at CCRI before transferring to URI or RIC as a junior, with the possibility of up to a 30% tuition discount for the remaining two years, depending on the student’s final grade at CCRI. Taken together, the two programs make a low-cost education and easily transferable credits a foremost part of CCRI’s appeal to incoming students. (Although, it should be noted, one student the Beacon spoke with said the Promise scholarship actually served to demotivate, claiming he “didn’t care” about his education when it was free. He is currently restarting—and paying for—his CCRI education, but seems to be in good humor about it.)

Open Enrollment Day adds extra ease to the enrollment process, allowing attendees to speak with advisors, get help with financial aid, and even apply to CCRI directly at the event. The Beacon witnessed firsthand the value of these resources while interviewing Assistant Director of Financial Aid Mary Arias: during the interview, a potential student came to the financial aid table with questions about completing her FAFSA while in foster care, and Arias’s colleague happily assisted. “It’s always our mission at CCRI to make sure that students are prepared to get ready to start any semester,” said Amy Kacerik, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs.

Furthermore, although the enrollment process and college experience have certainly been transformed by the pandemic, not every change brought by COVID was a curse. Post-pandemic, CCRI continues to offer virtual options for approximately 35% of all course sections. Kempe says that “Students really enjoy the flexibility of taking classes in person and online,” and Arias told the Beacon that the pandemic forced the institution to finally complete the transition from a paper-based to online financial aid process. That doesn’t mean online enrollment is without its troubles, however. Massiell Reyes and her recent high school grad Alan said they attended Open Enrollment Day to register in person, because the online registration forms were broken. Clearly, there is still work to be done.

Monday’s event was CCRI’s second Open Enrollment Day of the summer, and the college intends to hold more throughout July and August. Upcoming dates, which can be found on the Admissions page of their website, include July 24 on the Flanagan Campus in Lincoln, August 4 on the Liston Campus in Providence, and August 21 on the Knight Campus. Walk-In Registration Days are also available on the Lincoln and Providence campuses, on July 19 and August 4, respectively.