30-Minute Recording of Video Online Seminar • Originally Broadcast February 1, 2008 • $149

One of the fastest growing trends in higher education is enrollment in community colleges. There are 1,195 community colleges in the United States enrolling more than 6 million students. That number is expected to increase to 7.2 million by 2010.

And as this student population grows, its makeup is becoming more complex. We are witnessing the rise of traditional-age students who act, in their enrollment decisions, more like returning adult students than their 18-year-old peers. Meanwhile, the nature of community colleges themselves is changing, with a growing number of international and baccalaureate-degree programs. What impact will these changes have on community colleges as well as on four-year colleges and universities?

An increasing proportion of students who earn bachelor’s degrees are starting at community colleges. For example, the rate of traditional-age community college students transferring to four-year colleges increased between the 1980s and the 1990s from about 27 percent to 37 percent.

What sort of transfer patterns should we expect as we draw nearer to 2010, when community colleges are predicted to enroll 7.2 million students in the U.S. alone? And what attendance patterns will we see in our certificate- or credential-seeking students? Which group should be our focus?

This session:
• Charts the major trends in community colleges in the United States
• Examines how those trends will affect four-year colleges and universities
• Delves into demographic and geographic data on community college enrollments
• Highlights relevant information on community college international recruitment and partnerships
• Discusses how community colleges are acting more like four-year schools

Knowledge benefits for you:
• Understand the larger forces shaping tomorrow’s community college population
• Receive timely, relevant data
• Predict how national demographic trends will affect your own institution
• Use these predictions to strengthen your recruitment, retention, and enrollment management efforts
• Anticipate the services you will need to meet future students’ expectations
• Put changes you’ve observed on your own campus into a broader context
• Alert your campus now to issues of growing significance
• More authoritatively discuss demographic and trend issues with your colleagues and the public

Who can benefit from viewing this seminar:
• Community college presidents and vice-presidents
• Admissions directors
• Enrollment managers
• Transfer counselors
• Directors of adult learning and continuing education