Sussex Technical/Vocational School sees surge in enrollment

Georgetown, Del- Last year the Sussex County Vocational Technical School district adult education programs saw a sizeable boost in enrollment in a variety of programs they offer.

Overall there was a 35% increase in students from 2022 to 2023, and the school saw significant increases in enrollment to apprenticeships, Drivers education, Health profession/CNA programs, GED programs, and perhaps their most significant increase: English a Second language courses.

To accommodate for the rise in demand for ESL courses, Sussex Tech Adult Education added two additional class locations and increased the number of classes at their already established locations.

We spoke to director of adult education of the Sussex County Technical Vocational School District Kelly Whaley to learn more about why the course is so popular:

“With the ESL program there has been a large increase in the population which has increased the demand for our classes. And in order to try and accommodate those students we’ve added extra sections of classes throughout Sussex county.”

ESL programs are not the only programs offered that are seeing a waitlist either.

According to a release from the school district GED and CDL apprenticeship courses are also seeing students being wait listed.

“We still have a very significant waiting list on those classes because we just don’t have the funding to meet the need for all of the students.”

Whaley told us that they do intend to request more funding in order to better fund programs for their growing pool of students.