As officials from Pearl River Community College are fond of saying – and as data proves – ‘The River Continues to Rise’ in academics, as the school is ahead of the average of other Mississippi community colleges in several categories.
PRCC president Adam Breerwood came to a recent meeting of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors to share the most recent statistics from the school, which this year was ranked the fourth largest in the state – up from eighth largest in 2016.
“Every year, we try to get out and talk to each of the counties that support us, and kind of share a ‘State of the College’ on where we are and what’s going on,” Breerwood said. “They do help provide funding to us, so we want to make sure that we keep them in the loop about new projects (regarding) our enrollment, and what their investment is doing to help us.
“We’re not asking for any additional support at the time; we just kind of wanted to share what’s going on, and we try to do that at least once a year or a little bit more often if necessary.”
Data provided by Breerwood shows that Pearl River – which also has been rated as Mississippi’s fastest-growing community college – leads in the following categories:
- Headcount: From Fall 2017 to 2023, Pearl River’s headcount rose 15.65 percent, while the average headcount from other community colleges in the state dropped by 9.47 percent.
- Headcount: From Spring 2018 to 2024, PRCC’s headcount rose 17.75 precent, while the average headcount from other community colleges in Mississippi dropped by 12.3 percent.
- Credit hours: From Fall 2017 to 2023, PRCC’s credit hours rose by 19.61 percent, while the average headcount from other community colleges in the state dropped by 15.7 percent.
- Credit hours: From Spring 2018 to 2024, PRCC’s credit hours rose by 23.75 percent, while the average headcount from other community colleges in the state fell by 14.5 percent.
“I think it’s a testament to our faculty and staff – a lot of different people have helped us with strategies moving forward,” Breerwood said. “We’ve worked really hard to remain accessible and remain efficient, and most importantly, to remain affordable.
“As you look at different colleges around the country, you think about how much tuition has increased, (but) we’ve (only) increased $75 per semester since 2017. We did that because it’s difficult for people to afford college, and so we’re trying to remain affordable, and we’ve also increased our scholarships tremendously at Pearl River.”
As of Spring 2024, PRCC boasts a student enrollment of 5,646, which is the largest in school history. Nine hundred and eighteen of those students are Lamar County residents, making for an 11 percent increase from that county since 2020.
Meanwhile, other community colleges experienced a 34 percent decrease in Lamar County student enrollment during that same period.
Online enrollment at PRCC has increased by more than 60 percent in headcount and by almost 70 percent in credit hours during the last eight years, meaning students are enrolling in more online courses each year. In fact, 70 percent of Pearl River students are taking at least one online class.
Scholarships have increased by 31 percent since 2017, and institutional scholarships to Lamar County students has increased by 59 percent during that time. Aid awarded in 2023 was $415,701, up from 2017’s $261,010.
“We’ve built a lot of different partnerships with different counties – for instance, with Forrest County, they provide a tuition assistance program for those students from Forrest County that have decided to enroll in Pearl River,” Breerwood said. “That’s been great.
“The City of Hattiesburg has helped us with some tuition assistance for Hattiesburg High graduates. And down in Hancock County, the Port Harbor Commission – which is kind of like their Area Development Partnership – they’re providing scholarships. We’ve just kind of beat the ground to help our college remain affordable.”
