Baker said Sinclair expects the 25 percent increase to drop in the summer, as the higher number of students has made it more difficult to register for certain classes and forced some people to begin registering further in advance. Still, Sinclair is taking steps now to meet the demand.
“We know that most students don’t want to take a class on a Friday afternoon, and to be honest, most teachers don’t want to teach on a Friday afternoon, if they can avoid it,” Baker said. “But that is what we’re looking at right now.”
Sinclair had more than 25,500 enrolled last fall, according to the Ohio Board of Regents.
Other area community colleges experiencing the enrollment growth challenges.
Clark State Community College in Springfield has added evening and weekend classes to its the traditional daytime classes.
According to Jennifer Dietsch, director of marketing for Clark State, spring enrollment at Clark State is up 18 percent from last spring, which was up 30 percent from spring 2008.
Fall registrations for Clark State are up 19.2 percent from this time last year. The school had 4,500 students in fall 2009, and expects to be well over 5,000 in the upcoming quarter.
Dietsch said more classes are going online as well to better serve students.
“We are doing as many creative things as we can to serve the differing population here at Clark State,” she said.
Edison State Community College in Piqua has seen its enrollment rise significantly as well, and is now offering weekend classes and much more online content, said Jack Kramer, Edison spokesman.
The school did not provide information on current fall registrations. Edison State had 3,357 students in fall 2009, up 3 percent from fall 2008.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0743 or nwaggenspack@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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