September 25
Community Colleges Are Booming In This Economy
According to this article in the Washington Post, thousands of students who had planned on attending “traditional” four-year institutions are choosing instead to go to community colleges.
Community college enrollment in the Washington region rose by nearly 12,000 students this fall, a 10 percent bump. The recession diverted large numbers of high school seniors from four-year colleges to less-expensive two-year colleges.
“I’ve heard stories of high school students who were accepted at U-Va. or Virginia Tech, and what their parents have done is ask them to wait out a year, come here for a year, purely for economics,” said Deborah DiCroce, president of Tidewater Community College in the South Hampton Roads region of Virginia. Fall enrollment at Tidewater was projected to rise to 30,500 this year from 26,898 last year.
As a result, community colleges have expanded their faculty, and increased their working hours. At some community college campuses, you can take classes at midnight!
What does this mean for you? It means that you might consider community colleges as a first step in the American educational system. More and more, they are attracting high quality students, high quality professors, and high quality technology – and offering it to students at a fraction of the cost charged by “traditional” universities.
2 Responses to “Community Colleges Are Booming In This Economy”
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Tags: community colleges, financing a U.S. university education, research about study in the U.S., the benefits of going to community colleges
October 1st, 2009 at 7:47 am
If you’re in the tri-state area, CUNY colleges are great as well. Schools like Hunter College and Brooklyn College are respected academically and don’t cost so much. They also have evening classes – I’m taking a class at Hunter now that begins at 8:30 PM and ends at 9:45 PM.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:15 pm
CUNY colleges are respected academically and are a great bargain as well. Great point and thanks for providing this advice!