Student enrollment is down this year, especially in community colleges, across the country, according to data released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The decline is problematic for people of color, who normally enroll in community college to later transfer to universities.

“Community colleges are showing the steepest decline (-18.9%), almost 19 times the pre-pandemic loss rate,” the report said, “followed by public four-year colleges (-10.5%) and private nonprofit four-year institutions (-8.5%).”

The latest on the data is featured on this week’s edition of Newscene, the student-produced weekly newscast that this month won a National Pacemaker Award for excellence in college broadcast journalism.

There are several reasons for the decline, including the current pandemic making it impossible for students to work and classes being online only.

Colleges and universities are responding with more outreach.

City College’s Joseph D’Ambro, a senior student services assistant in the Transfer and Career Center, said that there are more resources for students who may need them during this pandemic.

“The UC’s are really stepping up,” he said in a recent conversation with City Times Managing Editor Gabriel Schneider. “The CSUs, a lot of local universities that we have relationships with (are) stepping up and providing additional resources. And there are admissions representatives from the actual universities that are helping.

“During this time, the more assistance they can get, the better.”

In other news:

COVID-19 vaccine by Christmas: Pfizer and its partner BioNTech have submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use of the vaccine for the COVID-19 virus for the U.S. and abroad.

The submission to the FDA is based on results from the Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer’s vaccine.

Pfizer and BioNTech plan to distribute 50 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year.

Time is running out to get your check: The IRS has announced the final deadline to apply for the $1200 stimulus check.

U.S. Citizens who did not file 2019 taxes will have until Nov. 20 to apply for the funds.

If non-filers miss the deadline, they will have to wait until 2021 and receive the tax credit instead.

SDUSD sends president-elect Biden plan to save schools: President-Elect Joe Biden has received a plan to help bring back kids to school from San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten.

The plan calls for extensive COVID-19 testing for both faculty and students. It also requests additional funding for both military and low-income families.

Dolly Parton partially funds COVID-19 vaccine: Country music superstar Dolly Parton is partially to thank for one of the many COVID-19 vaccines.

Earlier this year, she made a million-dollar donation to Vanderbilt University.

The university then used part of the donation to fund Vanderbilt’s work on the vaccine.

Parton was unaware of her involvement until her name was noted in a recent report.

Multimedia journalists Chris LeFall contributed to this report.