Cecil Groves, President Southwestern Community College

Also, some 5,000 students have signed up for continuing education courses, seminars, and workshops.

“The rapid growth in enrollment reflects a national trend,” said SCC President Cecil Groves. “Whether seeking a college degree, specialized credential, or personal enrichment and growth, more and more students are choosing community colleges. Why? We have quality teaching and demonstrated student success, as well as being close to home and affordable. It just makes sense.”

Contributing significantly to the enrollment increase this fall are students in the college transfer program, Groves said. “They know they can get their first two years very affordably at Southwestern and then transfer automatically to a four-year institution,” Groves said. “We’re experiencing a 20 percent increase this fall in the number of college transfer students.”

The opening of the new Macon Campus further contributed to the enrollment increase, according to Groves, who said, “With expanding course offerings there we expect to see enrollment continue to increase as the community takes advantage of their beautiful new campus.”

Older adults have seen the advantage of getting their first two years of college at Southwestern before transferring on to Western Carolina University, UNCA, Chapel Hill, NC State, or wherever, said Groves, pointing out that 47 percent of SCC students are age 25 or older.

“What we are seeing with our fall enrollment figures is not just an increase in students, but a shift in attitude.,” he said. “Students graduating from high school are choosing us as their first choice. It’s not like they couldn’t get into State, for instance, so they ended up going here. Instead, we’re seeing these high school students make insightful choices.”

Groves thinks much of the change in attitude comes from students who have been dual enrolled, taking SCC college classes while they are in high school.

“Sure, that’s a good deal for them because our classes are free for high school students. But that exposure to our emphasis on excellence in education and our highly-qualified instructors seem to change their mind about what community colleges have to offer,” he said. “While academically rigorous, Southwestern offers our students a wide array of services and support- tutoring, advising, counseling and job placement-designed specifically to help each student be successful.”

Along with that, Groves said the small classrooms and personal attention from the instructors help ease high school students transition into college.

Significant growth is also occurring in online courses, said Groves, who attributes that to a 30 percent increase in the number of courses offered online and to the seven percent increase in the number of students taking online courses.

“We are a rigorous academic community, but we are also a nurturing community,” Groves said. “Our efforts were affirmed last month by the Washington Monthly who rated Southwestern as one of the top five community college in the nation when it comes to providing students a positive learning environment considered essential for success.”

###