ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - While some higher education institutions in the St. Louis-area have had to cut programs, or have even planned closures, one in our region is expanding.
St. Louis Community College reports an 11% increase in enrollment this spring, with Chancellor Dr. Jeff Pittman crediting the college's low tuition as a major factor.
"We continue to keep our costs down, and we have not raised tuition in over four years," said Dr. Jeff Pittman, Chancellor for the St Louis Community College System on 'Total Information A.M.' "If I had anything to do with it, we will not raise it again for five years."
"We charged $128 for tuition and fees, that makes it very, very affordable. We're about creating affordable pathways for the citizens of St. Louis City and County without incurring any student debt or loans."
St. Louis Community College's campuses are also set to have a half dozen new buildings ready for students by the fall.
"The college is going through a major transformation, not only with it's physical appearance, but also our curriculum," said Dr. Pittman.
Among the new buildings includes a Nursing and Health Science Center on its Florissant Valley's campus.
"The building is actually already open, but we will have our official ribbon cutting coming up later this month," said Dr. Pittman. "We're going to have several programs in there like nursing, radiology, imaging, dental hygienists, patient care technology, paramedics, and all those high need, high wage careers that we have right here in St. Louis County."
Another building is that is set to be open is an Advanced Manufacturing Center, where students will receive hands-on training in state-of-the-art labs.
"The building will house our manufacturing, industrial maintenance and engineering programs," said Dr. Pittman. "We have a program there for Boeing technicians that we've done for a number of years, but that's going to allow us to enroll in a great deal more students in all of those program areas."
