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GREENSBORO — Economic conditions have pushed GTCC’s spring enrollment to historic levels.

There are 13,954 students enrolled this semester. That is the largest enrollment in the college’s history, college officials said, and represents a 21.7 percent increase from last spring.

Alison Wiers, GTCC’s associate vice president of student learning and success, said the economy is certainly a reason for much of the growth. It has forced many to return to school to learn a new career or trade.

But she insists that many of the students enrolled this semester are there for the same reasons they’ve always looked to community colleges: they went to a larger school and weren’t successful, or they want to start at a smaller school and get focused before they move on to a larger university.

“That happens all the time at community colleges. It’s not just in an economic downturn,” she said.

As the economy faltered, enrollment spiked at community colleges across the state. The N.C. Community College System reported in October that there were more than 20,000 additional full-time students enrolled at its 58 campuses, compared to the 2008-09 academic year.

Rockingham Community College has 2,503 students enrolled this semester, a 16 percent increase over last spring, said Bob Lowdermilk, vice president for student development.

But Wiers said GTCC’s growth has been steady.

“We have been growing every year. It’s just that this year, because of the economy, we’ve had staggering growth,” she said.

Wiers said the college has always been a draw for those students who find themselves not quite ready for life on a big campus, or those whose families don’t have the income to finance an education at a larger institution.

“You can take two years’ worth of school and move on without wasting a lot of money,” she said.

While a GTCC education might be more affordable for some, more students are in need of financial help to enroll there. The number of students who will receive financial aid this semester is up 51 percent from last spring, said Lisa Koretoff, GTCC’s director of financial aid. The college is dispersing a large number of grants, Koretoff said, followed closely by student loans.

The large increase is also being felt in the college’s developmental education division, where students take courses to beef up on basic skills before moving into curriculum courses. Interim division chairman Bart Trescott estimates his department is seeing a 20 to 30 percent increase in students each semester.

Wiers said the college is employing the same methods from semester to semester to deal with the growth: increasing class size, requiring administrators and faculty to teach additional courses and hiring more adjunct faculty.
 

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 373-7080 or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com