Community College gives students another choice for higher education

Since opening its doors eight years ago, Baton Rouge Community College has grown in size, and enrollment, in less than ten years making it another viable alternative for Louisianans seeking a higher education after high school.
When it first began classes in 1988, the school had 1,866 students enrolled in its inaugural class.
At press time, no one was available to comment on the school’s current enrollment statistics.
“I was there when they had really gotten started,” said Kisha Bell, a senior mass communications major from Natchitoches, La. “The only thing I didn’t like was the computer labs, but they were just getting started and I know they’ve just built more buildings and I’m sure they have more (now).”
Bell said she attended BRCC during the fall of 2004 to 2005 school year before transferring to Southern.
“I can remember my teacher, Paige Davis,” Bell said. “She made class really exciting. All the teachers were like that.”
Bell transferred to Southern because BRCC only offered associate degrees and she wanted something more.
“I was making great money with it (associate degree), but I wanted my bachelors degree,” she said.
BRCC offers its students the chance to earn associate degrees in business, process technology, liberal arts, general studies and science.
Currently, tuition cost to attend the community college is $2,166 for full-time students, compared to the $3,200 to $7,000 it costs to attend Southern University for two consecutive sessions.
According to their website, in 2005, BRCC held a 65 percent retention rate with its students. 21 percent of them were first-time students and 76 percent of the students were in good academic standing after completing two semesters of coursework.
Approximately 59 percent of the school’s student body is enrolled full-time while another 41 percent are part-time attendees at the college.
“I was attending Delgado before (Hurricane) Katrina, but my family moved to Baton Rouge after it hit,” said Courtney Hickenbottom, a freshman from New Orleans who is currently enrolled at BRCC.
Satisfied with her education choice, Hickenbottom said, “I like it because it’s a small environment and it’s very hands-on.”
In 2004, BRCC students who transferred from the community college setting into the traditional four-year college set up chose Southern, Louisiana State and Southeastern Universities as their college of choice.
“Students can attend BRCC for two years, get the credits and the grades, then transfer to Southern in which a lot of them do,” said C. Norman St. Amant. Jr., vice chancellor for enrollment management at Southern. “It (BRCC) serves a purpose as well as a four-year college.
“Some people desire to go to a four-year college and some desire to go to a two-year college,” St. Amant said. “It’s not a matter of comparison, it’s a matter of choice.”
Hickenbottom and Bell agree that the best things, they feel, that shapes their positive image of BRCC is the school’s teachers.
“Their standards and qualifications, as far as teachers, are so much higher,” Bell said. “They don’t just give you a grade, you actually have to earn it.”
Bell said the professors seem to give their all to the students.
“If you really don’t know if you want to go to college, or maybe your family is forcing you to go, just go to BRCC,” Bell said. “If you don’t like it you can just stop. You’re not wasting a lot of money.
“It is so much better,” she said.
Like Bell, Hickenbottom said she will eventually transfer to Southern also, well aware of the spike in tuition cost the move from the community college will mean.
St. Amant said the university encourages students to attend community colleges if they do not meet the standards for a four-year university.
“We have dropped about 200-300 (students) below our enrollment level,” he said. “But whenever you raise the standards you can expect a decrease in enrollment.”