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Students flocking to two-year campuses throughout Wisconsin

Carly Cerny works on transcripts recently at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County. UW-Rock County officials say they’re seeing a spike in the number of students already registered for fall classes. Terry Mayer/staff.

JANESVILLE — As most college students close the book on another school year, fall enrollment already is ballooning.

More than 500 students are registered for fall classes at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County, said Kristin Fillhouer, assistant dean to student services. That’s an 84 percent increase over this time last year.

“Our applications are now to a place where we used to hope to get to at the end of registration,” Fillhouer said. “People are maybe rethinking things. It’s a good, quality education, we have excellent instructors and people can stay close to save money.”

The campus accepts registration until the first day of classes, so it’s hard to predict what fall enrollment will be, Fillhouer said.

A record 1,176 students attended UW-Rock County last fall. The enrollment spike is part of a statewide trend. Two-year colleges in the UW system now attract more interest than the state’s four-year institutions.

“Applications for the two-year schools are running higher than for the four year,” said Howard Cosgrove, a spokesman for the UW Colleges. “I definitely think it’s recession related. I think that relates to the fact that the two-year schools have a lower tuition.”

Cosgrove said applications for the two-year campuses are up 11 percent statewide over this time last year. And that’s after the 13 two-year schools had a record 13,807 students in the fall semester of 2009.

“We expect that to be up substantially, but it’s hard to tell how much,” Cosgrove said. “Maybe it’s just that more people are thinking ahead and getting their applications in early.”

Read the full story in the May 23, 2010 e-edition of The Janesville Messenger, HERE.