(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
by Jim Brown
Community colleges across America are experiencing a noticeable surge in enrollment, with some schools reporting over 20% more students.
Many two-year schools are reporting double-digit percentage increases for enrollment this year, and one analyst says those figures are not likely to change anytime soon. Norma Kent is vice-president of communications for the American Association of Community Colleges. She says several factors are attracting more students to commuter schools.
“We note that when our economy is not in such great shape, our enrollments historically go up — so that's one part of it,” Kent says. “Another part of it is that tuition at colleges, even public colleges, has risen substantially, so for many community college is their only hope of going to college.”
Kent also notes that community colleges have a broad mission, serving individuals who have been “downsized” or “right-sized” and coming back for new skills or even a new career to make themselves marketable. Many, she says, are attending the schools to earn a degree.
“We have a high number of certificate programs — for example, we train almost 60% of new nurses, almost 80% of police officers and firefighters in higher education. So a lot of people come for different reasons. They may be coming just for a computer course or computer certification to make themselves more marketable.
Kent says although the transfer rate from community colleges to four-year schools is officially listed between 23 and 25%, that figure does not reflect what is really going on.
