At Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College an Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant from the US National Science Foundation has funded development of new courses and installation of equipment at multiple locations to improve students’ access to associate degrees in cloud administration and cloud services.

Thanks to the Connecting the Coast to the Cloud (CCC) project, students in the coastal and rural inland communities served by the college now need to travel less in order to learn more high-demand information systems technology (IST) skills. During 2025, 66 students (21 females, 45 males) took one or more of the following courses developed by the CCC project: IST 2154 Introduction to Cloud Computing, IST 2134 AWS Cloud Infrastructure, IST 2163 Microsoft 365 Administration, and IST 2144 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals.

Principal Investigator Robin Hayes explained in an email that the decision to offer the new courses both synchronously and asynchronously was influenced by the college’s success offering HyFlex courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hayes chairs the college’s School of Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science, & IT and teaches artificial intelligence and data technology courses.

She wrote: “We never saw a decline in enrollment. Once we were able to open our classrooms up fully, we had students who were halfway through their degree, but had full-time jobs and couldn’t attend classes during the day. We wanted to continue giving those students flexibility. Our college as a whole came up with the ‘Choice’ option that allows students to ‘choose’ for each class meeting whether to attend in person or virtually via Webex at the designated class time (both synchronous options), or the student may treat the course as online (asynchronous) where attendance is measured by active participation just as a fully online course would be.

“We have had non-traditional students coming back to school who are truck drivers on the road, casino shift workers (Harrison County has many casinos), and typical 8-to-5 employees. Even a large portion of our traditional students are working full- or part-time jobs. Choice classes give them the flexibility to work around their jobs. If there is a particular class or topic the student is struggling with, they may make the decision to attend class in person a few times, where they are more comfortable asking questions.”

A report published in December by the Community College Review highlights the variety of initiatives designed to increase enrollment at community colleges across the nation. Post-pandemic, two-year institutions have continued to adapt their programs to meet the evolving needs of industry and the workforce, and these efforts are paying off, with more students investing in a community college education. The report dives into several potential contributing factors to the higher enrollment and retention rates, as well as the changing landscape of technological advancements, the rise of nontraditional education, and shifting American demographics. 

Growing Microcredentials 

Community colleges are increasingly awarding modular, stackable credentials and microcredentials, integrating them into academic programs to better align with specific sector requirements and evolving industry demands. Microcredentials may offer students a competitive edge when entering the workforce by presenting these awards as an indicator of advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities. Since Spring 2024, the number of microcredentials has grown by 10.3% across community colleges, offering another alternative to longer-term programs such as associate's degrees. 

The 2025 Annual Survey of Principal Investigators for the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program provides a detailed look into the characteristics, accomplishments, and impact of ATE projects and centers across the United States. Conducted by the NSF ATE funded EvaluATE project at Western Michigan University, the survey produces a report each year that highlights how ATE initiatives influence students, educators, institutions, and the broader STEM workforce.

In 2025, the survey was distributed to all 312 active ATE principal investigators (PIs), of which 294 responded. Grantees self-reported information on project and center activities during 2024, including evaluation, partnerships, curriculum and course development, student support services, professional development, research, publications, and program services.