21,000 at Miami Dade College also enrolled in high school

Written by Abraham Galvan on August 18, 2026

Miami Dade College (MDC) continues to see strong enrollment momentum, with total credit enrollment now 26% higher than it was in 2022.

Several campuses are already outperforming last year’s numbers at this point in the cycle, and the college is continuing to build on that momentum in the lead-up to the start of classes, said Madeline Pumariega, MDC’s president.

“The campuses leading that growth – North, Medical and Hialeah – are also among our strongest performers in student retention and persistence,” she said. “That’s not a coincidence: when students stay enrolled and keep progressing toward completion, it shows up directly in our enrollment numbers.”

Compared to last year, the North Campus is up 1.4% in credits, the Medical Campus went up 1.3%, and the Hialeah Campus was up 0.8% in enrollment credits.

North Campus stands out further because it is outperforming last year’s numbers among both recent high school graduates and adult learners entering MDC for fall 2026, a sign of strong demand across very different student populations, Ms. Pumariega added.

“In terms of overall volume, Kendall, North campuses and MDC online together account for more than half of all fall 2026 credit hours,” she said. “Students are really pursuing the fields in our community that are tied to the talent we need most: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, health care, teaching, and other high-demand fields like the construction trades.”

As for what students are choosing, the most popular programs this fall are business administration, psychology, biology, pre-nursing, accounting, criminal justice, computer science, nursing, diagnostic medical sonography and radiography, Ms. Pumariega added. That mix – health care, business, STEM and public service – tracks closely with where South Florida’s workforce needs are heading, which is exactly the kind of alignment the college aims for, she said.

Another area in which MDC is seeing growth, with an increase year-over-year of almost 7%, is its partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and dual enrollment.

“We’re seeing that number again increasing to 21,000 students in Miami-Dade taking advantage of dual enrollment, which provides a savings to families right here in our community of around $17 million,” Ms. Pumariega told Miami Today. “We continue to make sure that our students at Miami Dade College are not getting into debt, that they are pursuing those areas that lead to jobs, and that they are in the areas where our industry partners tell us they need talent the most.”