Campuses 'bursting at seams'

For some students, the change to four-year programs is a draw. Educators say the economic downturn

By MONIQUE FIELDS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 5, 2001

[Times photo: Scott Keeler] Melissa Gray, 19, of Palm Harbor, a freshman, talks with Jimmy Amsden, 20, of Dunedin, a sophomore at the Tarpon Springs campus of St. Petersburg College. Gray was reading Amsden's poetry.

First-year student Gordon Hammond knew what he wanted in a college.

He wanted it to be close to home, affordable, a school he could attend for four years.

At first, the 18-year-old New Port Richey resident set his sights on University of South Florida in Tampa. But when he learned St. Petersburg College would soon begin offering four-year degrees in Tarpon Springs, he changed his mind.

"I saw everything I needed right here," Hammond said Tuesday.

St. Petersburg College officials say hundreds of students just like Hammond flocked to campuses in Tarpon Springs, Clearwater, Seminole and St. Petersburg's Gibbs campus and increased enrollment, on average, 6.4 percent. It was the college's largest increase in more than a decade.

Tarpon Springs had one of the greatest jumps in the number of students, from 2,396 last year to 2,820, an increase of 17.7 percent.

There used to be a trickle of students on the campus. Today there is constant flow of them. And parking is a tight squeeze.

"You have to fight or get here so much earlier," said Larry Kinnard, vice president of the Student Government Association.

That's good news to SPC administrators, who credit several factors for the increase.

In Tarpon Springs, the campus is undergoing rapid change.

In January, the Leepa Rattner Museum of Fine Arts is slated to open. The school is in line for a new fine arts center and library. And next fall, the college will usher in its bachelor's program.

The college plans to begin offering four-year degrees in teaching, nursing and some high-technology fields.

"I don't think there is much more you can ask for," said Nick Billiris, provost at Tarpon Springs.

The increase comes in the wake of the school dropping the "junior" from its name as it prepares to offer more to Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando residents.

"A 38-year-old female with two children can't pack up and move to Gainesville, Tallahassee or Miami," said SPC president Carl Kuttler. "When the courses are in their back yard, they can make family adjustments and they can go to school."

Administrators also point to a slowing economy. Every time there is a downturn in the economy, enrollment figures rise, educators say.

Early numbers show that the trend is taking hold at two-year colleges across the state. Last year, two-year enrollment averaged 2.8 percent. A survey of the state's two-year colleges showed that all expect enrollment increases of 4 to 20 percent this year, with the largest gains being found in South Florida, said Barbara Doran, spokeswoman for the Florida Community College System.

At SPC, students are also signing up for electronic courses. Last year, the college enrolled students in more than 10,000 credit hours of electronic courses. This year that number pushed above 15,000. And students pursuing four-year degrees from colleges that have formed partnerships with SPC are also on the rise, from 750 students last spring to 1,500 this fall.

"We're bursting at the seams," Kuttler said. "We're trying to serve people, and they need it more now than ever before."

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