Area community colleges are seeing an increased number of students enrolling, which some have credited to the poor economy combined with cheaper tuition fees.

The trend of increased enrollment at smaller regional colleges has also been seen at the Firelands campus in Huron, Ohio.

William Balzer, the dean of Firelands, recently took the position on July 1, but has been involved with Firelands since 1999 and has seen a steady growth in enrollment over the last decade.

Balzer described several situations impacting people right now that may be reasons behind the increase in enrollment at the regional campus.

Displaced workers, workers looking to add skills and high school graduates who wanted to go to work but with few opportunities for employment have decided to enroll in school to broaden their skills to ensure they’re competitive in the market place help to make up the increased enrollment, Balzer said.

Firelands has also tried to focus on workforce development where Firelands works with area business leaders in the community to find the right types of programs to help meet company needs, he said.

‘It’s not something new to our mission, but it has become [more] important because of the current state of the country,’ he said.

Firelands has already seen an increase with 26 more students enrolling for fall 2009 than they had in the fall of 2008, he said.

The increase has been even greater at Terra Community College, in Fremont, Ohio according to Lyn Sullivan, director of institutional research and registrar at Terra, where there has been almost a 40 percent increase in enrollment when comparing summer 2009 to summer 2008.

In the summer of 2008, there were 600 students enrolled at Terra, with summer 2009 enrollment at 820 students, Sullivan said.

The trend of higher enrollments has also been looked at by the Ohio Board of Regents. Rob Evans, assistant to the chief communications officer, has seen enrollment going up at both community colleges and four-year universities.

In the fall of 2008 there were 478,376 people enrolled at Ohio colleges and Universities, he said. More of those enrolling students are choosing community colleges over a four year university.

The University is also expecting an increase in the number of students who will be transferring into the University in the fall also.

There will be around 625 students transferring to the University for the fall 2009 session, according to Gary Swegan, the assistant vice provost and director of undergraduate admissions at the University. This is in comparison to only 608 students arriving in 2008 as transfers from other colleges.

Of the 608 transfer students, 309 of them transferred from community and technical colleges, he said.

There are also incentives for students who are attending community colleges to transfer to the University in the form of cash awards given to students who qualify.

There are two separate one-time transfer incentives given out to two different groups of students. The two incentives are the Transfer Excellence Incentive, worth $2,500 each, and the Regional Community College Transfer Incentive worth $1,500 each.

‘One [Transfer Excellence Incentive] would be those that have associate degrees, and the other [the Regional Community College Transfer Incentive] would be those that are members of Phi Theta Kappa,’ Swegan said.

Phi Theta Kappa is the honorary society for community college students. It is available to students who qualify for enrollment who attended either a community or technical college in the state of Ohio and will attend the University, according to David Kielmeyer, the senior director of communications at the University.

The program has been available for the last two years and has awarded around 300 students, Kielmeyer said. Half of those transferring receive the $1,500 award, and the other half receives the maximum $2,500, he said.

Despite the increased enrollment, which the University is seeing from students attending community colleges, the increase is normal considering the impact the economy has on the area.

‘What we are seeing is not unusual, it is historical,’ Kielmeyer said. ‘Historically when the economy is down the enrollment at two-year and community colleges is historically higher.’

Students cited the economy as one of the top reasons why they chose to go to a community college prior to enrolling at the University.

This includes Joseph Smith, a junior majoring in microbiology and bio-chemistry, who attended Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland as part of a post secondary program. The average price of a semester at the community college was around $1,000 per semester according to Smith.

Smith received an associate of science in biology and psychology at the community college but still wanted to complete his bachelors despite the higher cost.

‘My grandparents always talked about how having a high school diploma was important, how they could live on a high school education,’ he said. ‘Now you need a bachelor’s or master’s degree so despite the cost of a college degree you should still go for a bachelor’s or master’s degree.’

Opportunities for Transfer students

Transfer Excellence Incentive is for all transfer students who have an associate degree from a community college.

Regional Community College Transfer Incentive is for members of Phi Theta Kappa, an honorary society for community college students and is available for students enrolled who have attended either a community or technical college.

College Breakdown An in-depth breakdown of the costs of various universities and community colleges affected by the increase in transfer and undergraduate students

BGSU UNDERGRAD MAIN CAMPUS: Fall/Spring 2009/2010

Instructional Fee – 324.00 General Fee – 53.00 Total Ohio Resident – 377.00/credit hour Non-Resident Fee – 305.00/credit hour Total – 682.00

BGSU UNDERGRAD FIRELANDS: Fall/Spring 2009/2010

Instructional Fee – 196.00 General Fee – 10.00 Total Ohio Resident – 206.00/credit hour Non-Resident Fee – 305.00/credit hour Total – 511.00

OWENS COMMUNITY COLLEGE:

Total Ohio Resident – 123.00/credit hour Non-Resident Fee – 230.50/credit hour

TERRA COMMUNITY COLLEGE:

Total Ohio Resident – 119.65/credit hour Non-Resident Fee – 187.88/credit hour [includes tuition and general fee]