McHenry County College enrollment up, in line with state community college trend

Enrollment at McHenry County College grew by 670 students this spring semester compared with last year, a trend coinciding with an upswing in the number of students at community colleges across the state, according to Illinois Community College Board records.

MCC’s spring enrollment jumped almost 23% from 2021 to 2025, and the college saw a 7% increase from last spring, according to the community college board. The growth is driven by increases in all enrollment types, including traditional college credit by 6.5%, dual credit by 4% and adult education by 22%, said Christina Haggerty, MCC’s vice president of marketing, communications and development.

“We are honored to have the privilege to serve more community members,” MCC President Clint Gabbard said in an email to the Northwest Herald.

The college last year opened its Foglia Center for Applied Technology and Innovation, and Gabbard wrote that the college’s new and existing CATI programs “have shown themselves to be a magnet for our students, along with a second spring nursing cohort and a renewed energy in our adult education programs. Every single employee serves a role in enrollment, and they all deserve praise.”

Overall enrollment at Illinois community colleges grew to more than 285,000 in the spring semester this year, an 8.9% increase over a year ago and the largest spring-to-spring enrollment increase since the ICCB began collecting systemwide data in the late 1990s, according to Capitol News Illinois. Including MCC, 40 out of 48 Illinois community colleges experienced growth for this semester.

“With the largest spring-to-spring enrollment increase and the third straight year of growth, our community colleges have not only bounced back from the pandemic, they are now stronger than ever thanks to our historic investments in education,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.

While MCC’s spring enrollment growth is lower than the overall state level at almost 9%, the Crystal Lake-based college saw higher numbers in full-time equivalent enrollment than the state, Haggerty said.

MCC’s credit hours also increased by 9.6% from last year while the state saw a credit hour increase of 7.1%.

“Over the past five years, MCC enrollment has fared better than the state and nation, with MCC’s overall enrollment growing continuously, even during the pandemic,” Haggerty said, “whereas the state and nation have been delayed in their growth and are still rebounding from steep declines that occurred during the pandemic.”

CATI-related programs at MCC also continue to see enrollment increases. Fall enrollment went up 49% from the previous year and 59% from five years ago. For the spring, the programs are at a 60% increase from last year and 71% from five years ago, Haggerty said.

Architecture and Engineering Design Technology has the highest number of student in the CATI-related subjects this semester. Heating, ventilating and air conditioning saw the largest increase of 82 students from last year, Haggerty said.

Since fiscal 2019, state funding for the Monetary Award Program, also known as MAP grants, the state’s need-based financial aid program, has increased 77% to more than $710 million.

Martin Torres, Pritzker’s deputy governor for education policy, said in an interview that increased funding for financial aid has made higher education in Illinois more accessible to moderate-income students, especially those who choose to attend a community college.