WELLS - The upward trend continues at York County Community College as 1,078 students fill the classrooms for the fall 2008 semester.
This marks the third consecutive year that YCCC has experienced an increase in both full and part-time enrollment. The incoming class of freshmen, transfer and readmitted students is the largest ever in the college's young history. The largest gains are seen in total new applications which increased from 680 to 739, of which 554 were accepted; a 10-percent increase.
"YCCC experienced a very heavy Fall admissions season, surpassing 700 applications for the first time," said Director of Admissions Fred Quistgard. "Our biggest numbers were seen in our Liberal Studies, Nursing, Business and Digital Media - which debuted its new degrees in Animation and Graphic Design. We also anticipate the recent addition of the Criminal Justice degree to become very popular, very quickly."
In reporting preliminary 2008 enrollment numbers to the Maine Community College System Board of Trustees at a meeting in South Portland this week, MCCS President John Fitzsimmons noted that degree seeking enrollment is up by 634 students over last fall and nearly 4,800 students since the seven institutions made the transition from technical to community colleges in 2003. The number of students entering directly from high school has also continued to grow, up 69 percent in six years and five percent this year alone, to 2,111.
The steady growth in student enrollment does put additional strain on the colleges' resources, however. "Our challenge now is hiring additional faculty and strategically using classroom and lab space to teach the additional courses and sections required to keep pace with our growth," advised Vice President and Academic Dean Paula Gagnon. "In addition, focusing on high quality instruction and the integrity of the curriculum will remain our top priority."
YCCC, established in 1994, is one of seven community colleges in the Maine Community College System.
