By Bess Warren
Megan Burson waited patiently to speak with an academic adviser Saturday at Connors State College downtown Muskogee Campus, during a special enrollment session offered to students the week before class begins.
Burson, 20, of Tahlequah works at Tahlequah City Hospital as a monitor tech and became interested in nursing. She graduated from high school in 2008 and will be attending college for the first time.
“I’m kind of nervous,” Burson said. “I just want to better myself as a person and help people.”
Muskogee Campus Director Rhoda Strode said it’s typical to see an increase in enrollment at community colleges when the economy is down.
“We are actually up in our enrollment compared to this time last year,” Strode said. “On Thursday we were up 145 from a year ago that date.”
Burson, like many, is concerned about her future. With the unemployment rate rising, she wants to secure a job that pays well, even if it means going in debt to get her education.
“Sure, it’s going to cost money to go to school, but, in the long run I will make more money than I do now without a college education,” Burson said. “I’ll do what I have to do to make it through, even if I have to take out a student loan.”
Colleen Noble, academic adviser for the Muskogee campus, has been working all month getting the students into their classes. Noble said she has noticed students enrolling to broaden their job skills in efforts to retain and excel within their current jobs.
“A lot of it is they are getting classes to get additional skills to get them promoted in their job,” Noble said. “We are seeing a lot of freshmen come in that have been laid off, and they are pursuing a new career or getting an education so they can get a better job.”
Noble said another trend she has been seeing is a rise in senior citizen enrollment, mainly in the technology field.
“I’ve been seeing some senior citizens come in just to take one computer course,” Noble said. “It’s kind of neat to see these older people want to stay on top of technology.”
Whatever the reason for enrolling, students are out to better themselves and maybe even motivate someone else.
Roberta Ballard, 29, mother of five, is a high school dropout and wants to take classes so she can get her GED (General Equivalency Diploma) or high school diploma. Ballard said some of her children don’t have the desire to go to college, and she wants to set a good example for them.
“I don’t want them to think it’s OK to drop out of school,” Ballard said. “I want to better myself and show my kids that it’s better to go. I’m thinking about the future of me and my kids.”
