DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – In what may be a sign of an improving state economy, Iowa officials say community college enrollment has dropped for the second year in a row.  The Des Moines Register reports that this fall’s enrollment hit just over 100,500 students, a drop of 5 percent from a year ago. Last year’s drop was less than 1 percent. The Department of Education says enrollment rose nearly 6 percent to peak at more than 106,000 students in 2010. It rose more than 14 percent in 2009.

M.J. Dolan is executive director of the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees, and he says that “when the economy improves, people that were going to school go back to work. When the economy declines, people come to community college to hone their skills.”