OTC enrollment up 17 percent for spring

Enrollment numbers at Ozarks Technical Community College continue to climb, the school announced Monday.

OTC reported total enrollment of 12,383 students for the spring 2010 semester, up 16.6 percent from spring 2009. Enrollment at the Springfield campus grew by 11.5 percent to 7,991 students, while online enrollment increased by 33.6 percent to 2,067 students.

Numbers are up at the college's non-Springfield facilities as well. The Richwood Valley campus in Ozark has 981 students this semester, up 18 percent from a year earlier. Education centers in Lebanon and Branson saw enrollment increases of 23 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively, while the Waynesville center showed a 71 percent increase.

The enrollment increase figures come on the heels of the announcement last week of a California couple's $2.6 million donation of two buildings and 13 acres of land in Lebanon to create OTC's third full campus.

"This pattern of significant growth every semester demonstrates the community’s continued need for the education and training we provide,” OTC President Hal Higdon said in a news release. “With our recent announcement of donated facilities in Lebanon, and constant efforts to make the best use of our limited physical space, we are doing everything we can to meet the needs of our students.”[[In-content Ad]]