Community Colleges see drastic increase in enrollments in Fall 2009

April 29, 2010 - PRLog -- The economic recession, which began in 2007, has left had a definite effect on the amount of students enrolling Community Colleges. that started almost two years previously had a dramatic and unforeseen impact on community colleges. While there were a great deal of increases in enrollment, there was also many budget cuts that affected Community Colleges.

The following are the factors compiled by the AACC that played a siginificant role in the enrollment increases:

The Availability of Workforce Training
Increased unemployment for workers reinforced the realization that a college certificate or degree was important for obtaining a job.

Retooling - or enhancing a current skill set - was important for job retention as well as for preparing for career changes.

Cost Savings
The limited fiscal resources of previously fiscally secure families positioned community and career colleges as a viable option due to comparably lower tuition and fees.


Outreach to the Community
Students saw value because of marketing and advertising campaigns that highlighted institutional quality and created general awareness of campus offerings. Partnerships with business, industry, and high schools expanded course and programmatic options available at community colleges.

Structural Capacity
At some campuses, new construction allowed for increased capacity to provide new or additional courses, while at others existing capacity limited the number of students colleges could serve.  Enrollment caps at 4-year institutions limited opportunity for some students who, in turn, attended community colleges.

Degree of Urbanization
In terms of locality type, the greatest increase between fall 2007 and fall 2009 was in towns. The large increases observed in towns and rural areas suggest that students are staying closer to home, choosing community colleges over other postsecondary options, or have decided to return to college.

About the Author:

Emagister.net was launched in the US in 2009 as an education resource for individuals looking to better themselves through education.  Run by experts in the Education Industry, Emagister is currently serving 11 countries with 3 more planned launches in the first quarter of 2010.  Emagister is well on its way to becoming the World’s Education Pathfinder.

If you would like to learn more about Community Colleges or would like to request information from a specific school listed on emagister, please visit us at www.emagister.net or email us at studentsupport@emagister.net

# # #

Emagister.net offers prospective students a wide variety of information on courses, degrees, colleges, universities and other schools of higher learning as well as the opportunity to contact these schools.