Mark Butti maintained nearly an "A" average in high school. He played football and was a member of service clubs. But when it came time to choose which university to attend, he didn't.
Instead, he enrolled at Western Nevada Community College.
"I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, so being able to live at home and commute to Carson City was way cheaper than getting into debt up at (the University of Nevada, Reno)," explained the 18-year-old. "I love it at WNCC. You get more out of it because you can actually talk to your professors who have worked in the field instead of just reading it out of a book."
Butti, a 2003 graduate of Douglas High School, is part of a growing national trend of students who are opting for the smaller classrooms and lower tuition fees of community colleges.
In turn, WNCC is responding with more university-like perks.
One of those is a move to add sports programs, which can lend a sense of community to a school and - with no better example than UNR's run in the NCAA basketball tournament - garner attention far beyond its campus.
A fund-raiser dinner featuring baseball great Steve Garvey is planned for Wednesday evening to raise money for the college's first-ever sports teams.
Baseball is expected to begin in the fall and women's soccer is scheduled to start the following spring.
"Maybe they don't want to go to a four-year college for whatever reason, but they still want to be involved in athletics," said Helaine Jesse, the college's vice president of institutional advancement. "Here's their chance to do that."
By 2005, women's softball and men's soccer are planned to begin.
Officials are also looking at ways to make each student feel more connected to their school.
The new Joe Dini Library and state-of-the-art student center with a game room, gym and lounge are designed to do just that.
"There needs to be a sense of belonging on campus," said Claire Yurovchak, student services coordinator. "Students need to feel they have a space on campus where they can relax. There's learning that goes on outside of the classroom.
"It's educating the whole student."
The 35,000-square-foot building was appropriated by the 1999 Legislature and is the college's first free standing library and student center. The library is functioning now, and a grand opening is scheduled for April 23.
Adding to the college's appeal is the Millennium Scholarship, given to Nevada high school seniors who have maintained at least a B average and plan to attend a Nevada college or university.
The money came from Nevada's share of a 1998 multibillion-dollar national settlement with tobacco companies over historic public health care costs tied to smoking-related death and illness.
In 2000, the first year of the scholarship which pays up to $10,000 of a student's tuition, 104 recipients attended WNCC as full-time students.
This fall, 324 students enrolled full-time with the scholarship.
Butti, who is now majoring in criminal justice and a member of Phi Theta Kappa, was among those to use the Millennium Scholarship.
"It is the best thing anybody graduating from a Nevada school can do," he said. "It's knocking off about a grand or more every year, which is a great deal for me."
In 2002-2003, the largest segment of the college's enrollment were 20- to 24-year-olds at 18.2 percent. Students who are 19 and under made up 17 percent. The next largest group is the 40- to 44-year-olds with 9.6 percent out of the total enrollment of 5,267 students.
The Associate Press reports a new study from the U.S. Department of Education presents a surprisingly positive view: Roughly two-thirds of students who complete at least a semester at community college go on to receive a four-year degree, about the same proportion as students who start at a four-year institution.
"It's just as effective a way of getting a bachelor's degree, if you do it the right way," said Education Department analyst Clifford Adelman.
Contact Teri Vance at tvance@nevadaappeal.com or at 881-1272.