The statistics speak for themselves. Graham explained at most universities, a student going full time is taking 15 hours or more. In the community college system, about 72 percent of the students attend part time, so roughly this means it takes five students taking one class apiece to equal one full time equivalent. She said there are currently 77,334 full time equivalents enrolled in the 23 total community colleges in Virginia. And the numbers are expected to go up.
Community college opens the door for every Virginian.
She said all the colleges are linked through Network Virginia, which is a high speed broadband distance education system. For example, in rural areas we don't have enough students to teach Chinese, but Northern Virginia is offering virtual foreign language classes. Graham explained the community college offers flexibility for the working and older students who may have families or job obligatons that make if difficult to move somewhere to attend college. Women make up 59 percent of the community college student body, and 29 percent are minorities. The VCCS is made up of 23 individual colleges on 39 different campuses.