The fastest areas of growth
Community colleges in the Spokane area and North Idaho say they're seeing a surge in enrollment as unemployed workers seek additional training or retraining. Meanwhile, enrollment at four-year institutions has remained stable over the summer, though some say they anticipate increased enrollment this fall.

"People are out of work and going back to school to get retrained," says Eric Murray, North Idaho College's vice president for student services. "The natural thing is to go back and change your skill set or increase your skill set. That's what we find to be the main motivator" for the increase in enrollment, he says.

North Idaho College's summer enrollment has surged more than 22 percent overall, with enrollment of full-time summer-school students rising 27 percent, Murray says.

Meanwhile, though summer enrollment is up only modestly at Community Colleges of Spokane due to funding restraints, financial aid applications have risen 35 percent to 40 percent among students who plan to attend its two campuses this fall, indicating a surge in demand, says Gary Livingston, the district's chancellor.

NIC has responded to its increase in demand by opening up additional sections this summer both in its for-credit classes and in its work-force training center, where enrollment rose by about 9 percent this summer. It's assured of further enrollment increases this fall, with new-student applications up 11 percent for fall quarter and registration for fall up 28 percent already.

In contrast, despite additional applications from prospective students, in Washington state, school budgets have been set by the Legislature, limiting the ability of institutions such as the Community Colleges of Spokane to meet increases in demand by adding more for-credit classes.

As it stands, the community colleges here together have been operating at about 800 students over their budgeted maximum each quarter, Livingston says. The district covers part of the cost of the classes it provides by collecting tuition, and the rest is covered by funding from the state. The state, however, has a cap on the amount it will give the colleges, which prevents them from adding classes to meet additional demand, Livingston says.

Because of those limitations, Community Colleges of Spokane's overall enrollment for the summer quarter was fairly flat at its two campuses here, Livingston says, with an increase of about 2 percent. This fall, Livingston expects students to be packed into every available slot.

"I think it's reasonable to think we'll be 8 percent-plus overenrolled this fall," Livingston says. The community college district has about 18,000 students at full enrollment, or the equivalent of 14,500 full-time students, as well as 15,000 additional students enrolled in noncredit classes or other programs, such as adult literacy classes, through its Institute for Extended Learning, he says.

Enrollment in career and technical programs at the Community Colleges of Spokane rose about 8 percent overall in the 2008-2009 school year, says district spokeswoman Mary Harnetiaux.

North Idaho College doesn't face the same limitations because it receives some local tax funding in addition to what it gets from the state of Idaho, Murray says.

"That local property tax in addition to tuition allows us to increase our ability to serve students," Murray says.

Livingston says that since Community Colleges of Spokane can't add many more classes, it's hard to gauge just how much its demand is up. In addition, because most student registrations now are completed online, people can't register when a section is full, so potential demand isn't tracked through the registration system.

Among four-year colleges, meanwhile, enrollment has increased only modestly this summer. Whitworth University has had roughly the same enrollment this summer compared with last summer, but has seen an increase in enrollment in some of its shorter-term training programs, says university spokeswoman Emily Proffitt.

Gonzaga University has had stable summer enrollment as well, with an increase of about 1 percent, says spokesman Dale Goodwin, but now is anticipating a larger freshman class this fall than it originally budgeted for.

At Eastern Washington University, summer enrollment grew about 5 percent this summer, says spokesman Dave Meany.

NIC's Murray says that when people are out of work they naturally are drawn to community colleges, which appeal to nontraditional students more than four-year institutions do. Four-year institutions draw more graduating high-school seniors, whose numbers currently are decreasing in Idaho, he says.

Redefining the classroom
Currently, schools here say fields such as health-care related professions are giving them a boost because they are so popular.

"Our strongest growth recently is in allied health fields," says Robert Ketchum, director of NIC's Work Force Training Center. Ketchum says courses such as the certified nursing assistant program are very popular.

"We're filling one class after another," he says, adding that such training often serves as a stepping stone for underemployed workers, who ultimately might get more education in a related health-care field to advance in that field.

Murray says accredited technical programs at NIC, such as nursing and radiology, also have strong enrollment.

EWU's Meany says that the allied health field programs at that school are popular, but the numbers of students enrolled don't fluctuate much since each program is taught with a set number of students who go through the coursework together each year, and the school doesn't add more of such groups when it receives more applications. It's also had more interest in short-term programs and custom corporate training in the past few months, he says.

Other nontraditional training programs have surged in popularity too.

The aviation maintenance program at the community colleges, for example, has taken off, Livingston says.

"The students in it have jobs before they graduate," he says.

Murray says that vocational programs at NIC continue to be popular.

"We have increased certain areas, like welding or diesel mechanics, and as soon as we've expanded we've filled" those new sections, he says.

Ketchum says interest in apprenticeship programs, which NIC's work-force training center helps employers design, also has risen.As far as delivery of courses, school officials say online courses definitely have found favor with a lot of students.

"Clearly the fastest growing delivery is online," Livingston says. Enrollment in online courses has risen about 25 percent this year at the Community Colleges of Spokane, he says. Eastern Washington University had record enrollment in its online offerings, with a jump of 18 percent this summer, Meany says.

University of Phoenix's Eastern Washington campus has had a 45 percent jump in online enrollment over the past year, says spokeswoman Alison Mallahan.

Though so-called "hybrid" classes, which combine both online and face-to-face learning, are the most acceptable to educators, such classes aren't necessarily lower cost. That's because they are more time consuming for the instructors than video-based distance-learning courses, which largely have been supplanted by Internet-based courses that allow for more individual interaction through the written word, Livingston says. Still, online courses provide a good alternative method for delivering courses to students in rural areas, who have in the past been deterred from traveling to attend classes when gas prices were high, he says.

North Idaho doesn't expect its fast-rising enrollment numbers to slow anytime soon. Murray says the school is anticipating a 20 percent increase in enrollment this fall compared with last fall.