Hudson Valley Community College is continuing to grow. In fact, for this fall semester, the college may have its largest student enrollment ever, even beating a record from last year. There many reasons for this. One is lower tuition cost, especially in today's economy.
"Certainly the economy impacts the attendance at a community college. Usually we're counter to the economic trends, " said HVCC President Drew Matobak.
Another factor here is the college's high school program. Nearly 1,700 additional students will be enrolled through this offering, which allows adjunct instructors to teach courses to high school students during their regular school day.
"Right now compared to last year, we're four percent up. The college in high school numbers will come in probably within the next couple weeks and once that happens, I'm sure we're going to be around four percent for the total," said Matobak.
And compared with four-year universities, most community colleges like HVCC have a smaller student-faculty ratio, where the education is done a more personal level.
Student enrollment at Hudson Valley Community College could once again see record levels. Vince Gallagher has more.
"They can give you more opinionized details of specific work and not only that it helps more students feel comfortable coming here and know they're getting a correct beneficial assistance as far as work," said HVCC student David Gould.
And for other students, the advantages can be two-fold.
"I think it has a lot to do with saving money because it is a lot cheaper than most four-year schools and a lot of people aren't ready to leave home and this gives you a feel of what you're getting into without spending an enormous sum," said HVCC student Hope Hudson.
And with Hudson Valley's high student transfer rate, this growth in enrollment continues. But with more students, there's also less space. The college has already added another parking lot and they’re looking at building a new academic hall by 2012.
"Because if we're going to be serving this community, we need to be able to expand our capacity here at the college," said Matobak.
Where the motto is "here we grow again."