<p>Recession</a> sending more students to comm. colleges - Yahoo! News</p>
<p>"..The two-year schools are reporting unprecedented enrollment increases this semester, driven by students from traditional colleges seeking more bang for their buck and by laid-off older workers."</p>
<p>My S (hs jr) & D (hs frsh) are also planning to take summer courses at our local cc for hs/college credit. It'll be interesting to see what kind of competition they'll face getting in.</p>
<p>Many CCs also offer great vocational programs. I suspect many new students are retraining for jobs in vocational areas.</p>
<p>Our local news this week reported that the combination of state budget cuts and huge influx of students was really affecting our CC...not enough teachers, classes much larger, some classes just not available at all. One student interviewed said she had planned to be a full-time student this semester but was only able to get two classes that she needed.</p>
<p>My D was planning on checking with her college to see if they would accept certain CC courses (not major, satisfy general requirements), and taking one or two over the summer. Thanks for tip, will start looking into NOW.</p>
<p>I definitely noticed that classes were booked more quickly this semester than in previous semesters. I had to ask an administrator to book our daughter for one course as there was only one slot left and we were trying to get her into it. There weren't a lot of other interesting courses that would fit in her schedule.</p>
<p>This morning on the radio, there was a story on how CCs are hurting. I guess that tuition and fees only covers 25% of their costs (that sounds reasonable to me), and there is a crush to get in.</p>
<p>In our state it is cheaper to go to an instate public 4 year if you receive the lottery scholarship than to go to a cc. Our CCs are definitely geared for certificate and vocational programs, (though one can get an AA or AS from them and transfer) and remedial classes. Spring enrollments are up at the local public 4 year. Just hope the quality of students will also rise.</p>
<p>CCs are definitely a mixed bag and you really have to be a good shopper in picking courses but if the CC does a good job in placement, and the course is rigorous, then it should be an excellent value.</p>