MASON CITY, IA--
More people are packing their bags and heading to school this fall. Enrollment at Iowa's community colleges is well over 100,000 students, an all time high. “It's fairly typical that in tough times when the economy is down, community colleges do see an increase in enrollment,” said Shelly Schmit, the vice president of institutional effectiveness and organizational development at NIACC.Schmit said this is the ninth straight year NIACC's enrollment increased. She said this year's seven percent jump provided a 'significant' hike. “We've had to go out and ask our instructors to teach more classes but also go out and hire more adjunct instructors to come on and teach additional sections for us,” said Schmit.
She said they're seeing more adult students--as well as more high school grads from the area. “High school seniors in our nine county area, 35 percent of them chose to come to NIACC first. That's a record for us and that's very high for the state of Iowa.” “I think the majority of my senior class at my high school went to NIACC,” said Larry Beyer, a student.
The students we talked with said one of the major reasons they chose NIACC was its affordability. “It's a lot cheaper, which is in my benefit and I won't have to take out loans and stuff then,” said Ariel Thomas.
While the higher numbers may mean having to add extra class sessions, Thomas said she thinks it's a positive for the campus community. “I think it's a good thing because we get to meet a lot of new people,” she said.
Schmit said the more people the better. “We want to make sure that any student, any person who wants to come to school here has the opportunity to do so,” said Schmit.
