Upward Enrollment Trend Continues at York County Community College | People

 Wells-   York County Community College (YCCC) recently announced that the college has reached another record summer enrollment.  With a total of 586 students enrolled in the 2011 Summer semester, the college has realized an 18% increase compared to Summer 2010. The number of credit hours taken has skyrocketed, also, with an increase of seven hundred hours over last summer.

One, of many, factors contributing to the continued enrollment surge is the affordability of a two year degree, or the first two years, of a four year degree, at the community college tuition rate. Despite the recent announcement by the Maine Community College System of a $2 a credit hour increase for the coming academic year, a 2.4 percent increase, a full-time Maine student taking 30 credit hours will see tuition rise by only $60, to $2,580 a year.

With many colleges and universities accepting all credits earned at YCCC, transferring to a four year program has become much more efficient and cost effective.  Recently, YCCC welcomed Husson University to offer courses on campus so that Business/Finance degree seeking students can complete a four year degree -while never leaving York County.

According to Paula Gagnon, Vice President and Academic Dean “YCCC continues to respond to the needs of the students in York County by adding programs that are in demand and that will benefit both business and industry. We have had an overwhelming response to the addition of our Criminal Justice program, our Medical Assisting Program, our new Health Studies program and are currently considering programs in Veterinary Technician and  Integrated Manufacturing.

And it looks like Fall 2011 is also trending positively. “In spite of the fact that we have processed around the same number of new student applications for fall 2011 as we did last year at this time, our overall number of students registered for courses is up 14%.  It appears that this is due to an increase in retention, which is the number of students who were enrolled in the spring of 2011 who are planning to continue in the fall,” advised Dr. Corinne Kowpak, Dean of Students.