Community colleges gain in hard times

This Great Recession of ours has been a great boon to the state's community colleges, which have seen their enrollments soar as more and more students seek an affordable academic experience.

This fall, 58,000 signed up for classes in the state's community college system, up nearly 6 percent, and a record enrollment for the two-year schools. And enrollment at those community colleges is nearly double the enrollment at the University of Connecticut, and some 60 percent higher than our four other state universities.

So says Steven P. Lanza in this winter's edition of The Connecticut Economy, the University of Connecticut's superb quarterly review.

In his article titled "Community Colleges. Can an Old Elixir Help Heal Today's Economic Ills?" Lanza writes that community colleges across the county have seen a "resurgence of late, as a sour economy triggers soaring enrollments."

As Lanza points out, an associate's degree bestowed by a community college can help the degree-holder boost his or her earnings and provide a "measure of insurance" against the risk of unemployment.

Here in southeastern Connecticut, we've got a fine institution, Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, which has nearly 4,000 enrolled students and some 2,500 continuing education students at its main campus on New London Turnpike.

The school was formed in the early 1990s. It's named after the region's three rivers - the Yantic, the Thames and the Shetucket. The community college campus is most impressive, courtesy of a $75 million renovation and consolidation. Three Rivers is now at one location, having been formed through a merger of the former Mohegan Community College and the Thames Valley State Technical College.

Besides its academic achievements, Three Rivers is a popular host for community gatherings, forums and symposiums on its campus.

Like community colleges elsewhere in this state, it, too, has seen profound growth in its enrollment during these turbulent economic times when families are being stretched thin by the rising costs of a four-year education at many private, and some public, academic institutions.

Lanza, in the economic quarterly, says student attendance at community colleges has spiked over the past several decades. In the late 1980s, enrollment was about 36 percent of all public college students. Today, that number is 47 percent.

Lanza also researched the history of community colleges, pointing out that the two-year schools' "birth" could be traced to another great recession - the panic of 1893, which threatened the very solvency of a number of academic institutions. To survive, says Lanza, some smaller colleges offered a general education program spanning two years, rather than four. They would then send along the students to larger institutions, if they wanted, to complete their studies.

Today, community colleges offer a host of study programs that include plenty of real-world experience and give students the skills necessary to gain employment. Those programs include hospitality management, nursing and allied health, technology and business.

"Hard times also prompt people to become more cost-conscious, and one way to economize on education costs is to substitute coursework at community college for that of conventional four-year schools," writes Lanza. He points out that tuition and fees at UConn are about $10,000 per year. For the other state universities, it's about $7,500. The figure for community colleges? About $3,200 annually.

Lanza says a student who chose to attend a community college for the first two years and then transfer to UConn would save more than $13,000.

Lanza, who serves as the executive editor of The Connecticut Economy, writes that even a minimal investment in some college training can yield significant dividends.

"Little wonder, then, that amid a troubled economy and a surge in enrollments, policy makers are taking a fresh look at the prospects, promise and payoffs of community colleges," says Lanza.

Anthony Cronin is The Day's business editor.