DOWAGIAC — In his first president’s report to the Southwestern Michigan College Board of Trustees Monday night, Joe Odenwald detailed positive enrollment trends.

The college’s rate was up eight-tenths of 1 percent for spring over one year.

“We were up pretty much all the way from when spring registration opened in late October,” Odenwald said. “We got our schedule out this year a month ahead of time. That was hard work, but it gave four weeks to advise, which really made a difference. Eight-tenths of a percentage point is not a barn-burner, but some other facts put this into context.”

Odenwald also said fall applications were up 20 percent, which could translate into a 5 percent increase in students.

The college was also up 11 percent in the fall of 2019 from 2018, which the president said was “tough” for student enrollment.

During his job interview in October, Odenwald told trustees he thought SMC needed to grow enrollment at least 3 percent “to survive.”

“These numbers we’ve got look good,” he said recently. “I think we’re set up for a really good fall. I cannot overstate how good it is to have had three terms in a row. We were up modestly in summer, up modestly in fall and up modestly in spring.”