Online Community Colleges - An Inexpensive Solution to the Slow Economy

Margo is a laid-off public sector worker who is going back to school for a certificate in Medical Technology. Juan still works in administration at a company, but has returned to college to pick up the AS degree in Accounting. Brittany is a young adult taking English, math, and history and wants to transfer to her local state university in the future. What do these people have in common? They are all taking online classes at their local community college.

The growth rate of Community colleges across the country has sky-rocketed. Enrollment numbers are up from 15 - 30% over last year's numbers. On-site classes are full and the numbers of online or distance learning classes are increasing to keep up with the growth. A few community colleges boast that students are taking classes in some format 24/7 (online, on-campus or hybrid)

There are good reasons why community colleges are so popular.
o Adult seeking Career Change. Laid-off auto workers can gain certificates in a technical field. Office professionals can pick up a degree in a lucrative area such as accounting or nursing. Technical professionals can get teaching credentials.
o General Education aids in transfer to 4-year schools. All 4-year degrees require English, math, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Taking these classes and transferring them to a 4-year college can save thousands of tuition dollars.
o Prerequisites for Master's degrees. Students can take prerequisites or foundation classes (if the course is lower division) and transfer to a Master's degree program, also saving thousands of tuition dollars.
o Fun courses. Continuing Education classes are ways to learn photography, French cooking and other enjoyable pastime skills and knowledge.

Local community colleges probably offer some online classes and even a few online degrees. However, there are several community colleges that offer many classes, many certificates and several degrees online. Some online community colleges with hundreds of online classes are: Foothill College Global Access (CA), Rio Salado College (AZ) and North Seattle CC's Virtual College (OR). The in-state costs are usually the same as on-campus (perhaps with a cybercampus fee). Out-of-state students will find reasonable tuition rates, as well.

Online classes at Community Colleges offer many options for the laid-off worker, working professional or young adult to gain skills, knowledge, certificates or an associate degree in an inexpensive and effective format.