Three Rivers expects to break enrollment record this fall

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Registration for the fall semester at Three Rivers College is in full swing this week, and if the numbers are anything like they have been in recent years, the community college can expect record enrollment.

Three Rivers has posted record enrollment figures each of the last four semesters, according to Wes Payne, the community college's vice president for learning. This semester, Three Rivers reported enrollment of 3,710 students, an increase of 6.8 percent from the same semester last year, and in the fall semester 3,732 students enrolled at the institution.

"I fully expect that we're going to break another enrollment record this fall," Payne said. "I think we're going to have more students than at any other time in the history of the college."

Payne said the economy, the college's push into small communities in the region and more online class time drove the enrollment surge. Three Rivers' new center at Dexter, Mo., has helped bolster student counts, and it has helped free up increasingly tight classroom space in the community college system, Payne said.

Programs continue to expand.

Three Rivers will launch "Maymester," a new academic term that comes after the traditional spring semester but before summer and fall sessions. Registration is underway for the accelerated session, which runs May 23 to June 2.

Students will meet for a class eight times, with some supplemental material online. A variety of general education classes are being offered.

"We're trying to provide additional options for our students to earn credit," Steve Lewis, Three Rivers' division chair for Humanities and Social Sciences, said in a news release.

Payne said the institution plans to roll out a similar intensive, short-term session, "Augmester," between the summer and fall sessions. The idea also is to tap into students pursuing degrees elsewhere who want to pick up a quick course while home.

Current Three Rivers students may register by logging in to the myTRCC system. New students must register in person at the Bess Student Center, or at any off-campus center in Sikeston, Malden, Dexter, Portageville or Kennett, all in Missouri, and at the Cape Girardeau Partnership for Higher Education.

mkittle@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

2080 Three Rivers Blvd., Poplar Bluff, MO