Why community college enrollments are rising

After graduating from St. Edward High School in Elgin, Conor Clarke thought his path to college was clear.

Clarke wanted to go to DePaul University. He applied and got accepted. But then he hit a roadblock - the tuition.

Not wanting to put himself into staggering debt, Clarke enrolled at Elgin Community College instead. He plans to finish there this year and then go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to complete a degree in advertising.

"I probably saved myself $80,000," said Clarke, a West Dundee resident. "And I've had a good experience here. The classes are small and the teachers are 'real' professors. Since most people take the same classes during the first two years anyway, this made a lot of sense."

With the economy down and tuition at four-year schools shooting up, more recent high school grads are turning to suburban community colleges as an inexpensive way to get started on a degree.

Final enrollment figures for this fall are not yet available, but local colleges say they're expecting to see jumps of between 2 percent and 5 percent in their "full-time equivalent" enrollments: the number of students that would be enrolled if each took a full course load, which recent high-school grads typically do.

The increases are not surprising; college officials say it's common for enrollments to go up during tough economic times.

"People are realizing that we offer the best bang for your education buck," said Bill Troller, spokesman for the College of DuPage, which is expecting a 2.4 percent increase in FTE enrollment this year.

Community colleges charge a fraction of what four-year schools do. A year of school at Harper College in Palatine, for example, costs a full-time student roughly $3,100 in tuition and fees. On the other hand, a year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for an in-state student would cost approximately $25,000 in tuition, fees and room and board this year.

Even something like the cost of gas can affect enrollments by encouraging students to stay close to home, college officials say.

"We're just a much more affordable option," said Evelyn Schiele, spokeswoman for the College of Lake County, where preliminary enrollment reports show FTE enrollment is up by 4 percent.

"So many students switch their majors a few times in college. With costs at most four-year schools going up, it makes sense to start at a school like ours, where students can explore different subjects and figure out what they want to study without incurring huge debt," Schiele said.

At Elgin Community College, overall enrollment is expected to go up this year after three straight years of decline. The number of students, not including adult education, enrolled full-time is expected to go up by 11 percent. The number of full-time students in college transfer programs will also be up at McHenry County College, which has seen its full-time enrollment jump by 18 percent during the past five years.

"People pay more attention to the quality of education they can get here when economic times are tough," said Mary Perkins, a dean at Elgin Community College.

Matt Fox, a Streamwood resident in his second year at ECC, said he doesn't think he's missed out on any of "the college experience" by going to a community school first. He hopes to attend film school at either New York University or the University of Southern California after he finishes at Elgin.

"I've had small classes, I've been able to take the classes I want, and the atmosphere here is just like a four-year school," Fox said.

Recent high-school grads aren't the only ones driving the enrollment increases. Adults also turn to community colleges in a difficult economy in order to change careers or make themselves more marketable in their current fields, said Phil Burdick, spokesman for Harper College, which is anticipating a 2.18 percent increase in FTE enrollment.

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