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Big Changes on Campus; Community Colleges Growing, Gaining New Mission

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

With more than 14,000 students, Bergen Community College has begun construction on a $16 million building designed to avoid a "capacity crunch." The enrollment numbers are big - the biggest in the school's history. But they tell just part of the story.

More telling, perhaps, is that for the first time there are more full-time than part-time students on the Paramus campus.

The phenomenon signals a sea change for the community college, historically a place for part-time and non-traditional students, such as those returning for retraining after a number of years in the workforce.

But part-timers still make up the bulk of the student body at Passaic County Community College, although their numbers are growing as well. College President Steve Rose said enrollment is expected to top 7,300 this fall, about 70 percent part-timers.

The total enrollment has tripled in the 18 years he has worked at the college, Rose said. The school will soon break ground on a $25 million parking garage on Broadway across from its downtown Paterson campus that will have room for 960 cars and street-level retail space. The garage will free up a surface parking lot that will then become the site of a 35,000-square-foot academic building, Rose said.

The school is also planning to add six classrooms to its campus in Wanaque, Rose said.

"We're full now," said Rose. "Every time we've been able to add a classroom, we do."

Back at Bergen, President Judith K. Winn said it's not just the head count that's changing.

"It's how long [the students] stay on campus," she said. "There's a different feel. It looks more like a traditional campus."

Full-time students are on campus more. They park there, eat there, join more clubs and look for more extracurricular activities, even at a commuter school like Bergen. They generally are younger, having come right from high school.

Grace Gomez opted for Bergen right after graduating from North Bergen High School. She wasn't sure what she wanted to study and a guidance counselor suggested she test the waters at a community college, where tuition is generally about a third of that at four- year public colleges and universities.

"I wasn't sure of a major and I didn't want to waste my time or money," said Gomez, 19. At Bergen, Gomez said, she has found both a major - communications - and the extracurricular life she was after. She is the new president of the student government association.

"A lot of people think community college is like the 13th grade in high school," said Gomez, who hopes to transfer for a four-year degree at a nearby state college. "I never felt that way here. I'm very happy."

Strong transfer agreements with most of the area's four-year colleges, public and private, have made community colleges more attractive to full-time students. There is no longer a worry that credits will be lost in the switch. Increasing numbers of middle- class families find that it makes economic sense to complete the first two years at community college.

The breakdown is close at Bergen. In 2004, there were 7,258 full- time and 7,067 part-time students. Full-time students have now slightly edged out part timers at Brookdale Community College in Monmouth County and Camden County College as well, said Jacob Farbman, spokesman for the New Jersey Council of County Colleges.

Overall, full-time enrollment at the state's 19 community colleges jumped 30 percent in the five years ending in 2004, Farbman said, and the average age of a community college student has dropped from 29 to 27. Part-time enrollment also increased during that period by 12 percent, he said.

The numbers have led to a need for more space, and all of the state's community colleges are building and renovating, thanks to an infusion of $200 million in state funding for capital projects, Farbman said.

Bergen broke ground earlier this month on the new $16 million academic building, West Hall, which is designed to be a state-of- the-art building for technical arts programs. It will hold the college's television and radio studios, computer animation and photo labs, a recital hall, rehearsal rooms and classrooms.

The school in 2003 completed a 600-space, two-tier parking deck and in 2002 opened a $10 million, 50,000-square-foot technology education center.

(SIDEBAR, page L01)

Fast facts

*-The total average tuition cost for a full-time New Jersey community college student will be about $2,300 per year, an increase of 4.7 percent. The tuition generally is less than a third of that at many four-year public institutions.

*-This year, after receiving level funding in the FY 2006 State Budget, the state's share of funding for community colleges will be 26 percent, while county funding to community colleges will be 26 percent, as well. Tuition will cover 48 percent of operational costs.

*-Historically community colleges have drawn so-called non- traditional students, part-timers and those who had been in the workforce for a number of years and were returning for retraining. Increasingly, however, they are drawing full-time students coming directly from high school.

Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.

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