OCC sees big spike in spring student enrollment

OCC’s enrollment will be in full bloom this spring with 25,174 enrolled for the upcoming quarter, one of the largest enrollments for a spring quarter in nearly a decade, school officials said.

The most recent enrollment that topped spring 2008’s mark was in the fall of 2002, when the school’s enrollment hit 27,996.

“This is the largest spring enrollment we have had in the last eight years,” said John Breihan, interim director of admissions, records and enrollment technology.

Breihan said enrollment could reach more than 26,000 when students enroll for the mid-semester spring classes being offered later in the quarter.

The school can accommodate the increase, which is 4.1% higher than fall 2007 and 10.4% higher than spring 2007, spokeswoman Mary Roda said.

Officials attribute the jump to increased course offerings and low fees, but added that the new library and other additions didn’t hurt.

The last time the school had numbers above any totals in recent years was in the 1970s when the college offered more “personal enrichment” courses that were non-credit and enrollment was more than 30,000, Roda said. State regulations cut many of those classes to use taxpayer dollars for more academic needs, which in turn dropped some of the school’s enrollment, according to Roda.

— Daniel Tedford