Photo by Hunter Wilson/Daily News Dewayne Sanford (right), sonography program director at the Bowling Green Technical College, works Friday with students Elizabeth Horton (from left) of Elizabethtown, Mandy Gordon of Leitchfield, Marcy Carmichael of Radcliff and Jennifer Hall of Bowling Green.

advertisement

Monica Simmons considered going to Western Kentucky University, but with her lifestyle, she felt Bowling Green Technical College was a better fit because it was more affordable.

Two-year colleges around the country, including BGTC, are seeing their enrollment increase as the cost of tuition remains lower than that of four-year institutions. Increasing enrollment at community and technical colleges is both a state and national trend, said Nathan Hodges, president of BGTC.

“I can’t personally afford WKU,” said Simmons, 20. “If Western was the only college in Bowling Green, I wouldn’t be able to attend college.”

The technical college is one of the fastest-growing colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, said BGTC officials. In the last five years, the technical college has more than doubled its enrollment. As of November 2007, the school boasted an enrollment of 5,025 students, said Mark Brooks for BGTC.

The growth at the college can largely be attributed to lower tuition than at four-year institutions, officials said.

At $121 per credit hour, Simmons said her tuition is a little more than $1,800 for the semester for 12 credit hours. That is about $1,600 less than the full-time tuition at Western; $1,031 less than at Kentucky State University; $1,059 less than at Murray State University; $2,053 less than at the University of Kentucky; and $1,967 less than at the University of Louisville.

“It’s affordability,” said Jeffery Foshee, interim provost at BGTC, in reference to KCTCS’ enrollment increase. “Cost is a factor. And the economy.”

Sarah Moore, 29, has two children and is expecting her third. She works a part-time job, and is doing everything she can to keep her car. “It’s tough,” she said.

“It’s easier on my pocketbook here than if I had continued at WKU,” said Moore, who went to Western on and off from fall 2004 to December 2006. “I wish I could go back and come here first.”

College officials also attribute their growth to more workforce training. While the cost of two-year schools is lower than public universities, they still offer solid “high quality” programs. “BGTC is constantly re-engineering its workforce training programs to align more closely with the needs ... of area businesses and industries,” Hodges said.

Students here want to get in and out, Brooks said. They want marketable skills to get a good job - much like Moore, who said she was going to Western for the pharmacist program, but that was going to take too long. At BGTC, switching to the radiology program, Moore said she would be done sooner.

So would BGTC student Tammy Lapierre.

“Here I can do my degree in two years,” she said. “While students at four-year schools will still be going, I’ll be done and in the workforce.”

While community colleges offer lower tuition and more workforce training, they are also more responsive to nontraditional students, Foshee said.

“Not to say universities aren’t, but community and technical colleges are more flexible with classes,” he said, referring to two-year schools which often offer morning, evening and weekend classes.

Simmons agreed, saying that at BGTC they are more considerate of the lifestyles of nontraditional students. She said she feels more involved than she would have at a big university.

“Here, they’re all about students’ education, more so than just a degree,” she said.