Community college enrollment remains high

Enrollment at Western Nevada Community College remains high, which college officials attribute to Internet classes and increased high school recruitment efforts.

Enrollment at all WNCC campuses has hit 5,276, about 14 percent more than the number of students enrolled at the beginning of last year, according to preliminary numbers released by the college.

"There is probably a little more this semester, there are a lot of young people," said student Nichole Williams, 29, who is seeking her associate's degree in convergence technology.

At the Carson City campus, there are about 3,226 students, which makes it the largest of the three campuses. There are 868 students taking Web classes, which is more students than at either the Minden or Fallon campuses.

Dianne Hilliard, WNCC director of admissions and records, said Tuesday that the popularity of the online classes has increased. Administrators have also pumped up recruitment efforts in Northern Nevada high schools.

"We have really increased our outreach efforts in the last year," she said. "We visited a lot of the high schools in our service area. We offered students academic counseling sessions to help them pick classes. We gave them placement testing for English and math. We brought the service to high school students rather than have them come here."

Business has also gotten involved in education. Some local industries are involved in a partnership program for specialized training.

Faruk Taban, the engineering instructor at the Carson City campus, said his introductory class has gained a few students this year over last. He's building the engineering program at the campus, and, so far he has three courses. He has about 16 students this year in the introductory course, compared to 12 in 2005.

"The increase is not huge, but it's a good sign," he said. "What I'd like to do here is teach the same course at the same time so students see the consistency."

Students at the Carson campus can now get an associate's degree in engineering science. Most choose to transfer to the University of Nevada, Reno, Taban said.

• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.

WNCC by the numbers

• The total number of students at the three campuses and fiveteaching centers: 5,276

At the Carson campus: 3,226; Minden: 646; Fallon: 786.

• Full-time students: 1,044

• Part-time: 4,232

• New students: 1,805

• Millennium scholars: 448

- Source: WNCC

preliminary report