Oregon universities and colleges brace for record fall enrollments | OregonLive.com

Oregon universities and colleges brace for record fall enrollments | OregonLive.com

Oregon universities and colleges brace for record fall enrollments

Published: Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 6:25 PM Updated: Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 7:24 PM

Bill Graves, The Oregonian
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Beth Nakamura/The OregonianEvan Luehrs, second from left, attends a full physics class Tuesday morning at Portland State University, which saw its enrollment climb slightly this summer to about 14,000 students or half its fall enrollment.

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While the recession continues to deliver high unemployment, budget cuts and economic uncertainty, it also keeps filling Oregon colleges and universities with an unprecedented flood of students.

The state's community colleges, public and private colleges and universities are seeing record numbers of summer students and bracing for record-high enrollments this fall. The growth comes atop record enrollments last year and the year before, putting a strain on state institutions as they scramble to hire more professors and add more classes. Some say they are nearing capacity.

The Oregon University System projects enrollment will climb at its seven campuses by about 5 percent to a record 96,200 students this fall.

The state's 17 community colleges all expect to grow, with some projecting increases as high as 25 percent. They continue to enroll students looking for a more affordable path to a degree and displaced workers trying to get job skills.

At the same time, students are taking on more debt as state financial aid shrinks and some of their parents lose jobs and wages. Some students are opting for graduate school, and deeper debt, because they can't find jobs.

In addition, a large number of high school graduates, an influx of students shut out of Washington and California financially-strapped state universities and a continuing stream of people into Oregon all help fill the state's universities and community colleges.

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Enrollment has climbed at Portland Community College every term since 2007, said spokesman Dana Haynes.

Fall enrollment "will be up again, and it will be up double digits," he said. "The reason is because of the recession. Anytime the economy goes south, people swarm to community colleges."

Every community college also is reporting increases in summer enrollment ranging from