SFCC spring semester kicks off

John Adams interrupted his college studies 27 years ago to start a family and work in construction to pay the bills.

Now with the economic downturn and the slowdown in the building industry, Adams resumed his studies Wednesday at South Florida Community College, working toward a degree in marine biology.

Twenty-one credits from his days at Seminole Community College, now Seminole State College in Sanford, have carried over to his present studies.

"After this term, I should be half-way through for a two-year degree," he said.

Adams purchased his books about a month ago so he could get started early in resuming his studies.

"I've been studying and trying to refresh my memory," he said. "It's kind of a shocker starting calculus after all those years."

Swelling unemployment ranks continues to boost enrollment at South Florida Community College, which started its spring semester Wednesday.

"We are still up overall every semester, particularly in our college transfer programs," said SFCC Vice President for Educational and Student Services Leana Revell. Enrollment is also up in some of the technical programs.

People are coming back to school because of the need to retrain for a better job or the need for a job that's more secure, she noted.

With a number of people unemployed now, they can get Pell scholarships or some type of financial aid that will assist them to go back to school for training for a new career.

It's too early to tell what the enrollment numbers are for the spring semester, she said, but it has been increasing 7 to 10 percent almost every year for the last few years.

The college's steady enrollment increases has led to the use of a computerized class waiting list.

The waiting list, which was first used during the fall registration, worked out well and will be used every semester, Revell said.

The college starts its registration process early to allow students to plan their course schedule and register early, she said. Students are put on the waiting list when a particular class they need for their schedule is already full to capacity.

Then about two weeks prior to the start of class, there is a drop date by which tuition payment is required or students will be dropped from the classes in which they had registered.

Students who haven't paid are sent a notice notifying them that they will lose their classes if they don't pay by the deadline.

A lot of times folks have different reasons for not following through and not paying for a class, Revell said. They registered and then didn't pay for it and don't plan on taking the class so then they just don't worry about it anymore.

After the payment deadline, the students on the waiting list are moved into the spots vacated by those who didn't pay their tuition, she said.

"It's worked wonderfully well for us this last year," Revell said. "Students have been happy, they feel like they are being given an opportunity to get the class that they actually want."

If students get on the waiting list early that helps them be higher up on the list, which is well documented in the college's computers, which makes it fair and equitable for each of the students, she said.