Dozens of private and public colleges and universities dot the Connecticut landscape, but none is growing as quickly as our community colleges.
Assistant Chancellor of the Connecticut Community College System Mary Anne Cox says three A's, affordability, availability and accessibility, are the reasons why.
"Since 1998, we're serving approximately 30 percent more students than we were," says Cox.
Journalism major Jenna Adams, 20, of Glastonbury was focused on the first of the three A's.
"I just can't graduate and have 120 thousand dollars of student loans. I just can't do that," said Adams.
Accounting major Chris Escourse,19, of Hartford crunched the numbers as well.
"It was the same education, but at a cheaper price", says the Bristol Eastern grad.
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Jenna and Chris represent the new generation of community college student. Over the past decade, the number of students under the age of 22 has increased 87 percent on Connecticut's 12 community college campuses. But that's only tells part of the story.
"We're definitely seeing an increase in the number of people returning to us now, as a result of the latest economic downturn", says Chancellor Cox.
She says while the economy has brought many back to campus, it's also created grave concerns among administrators. Cox points out that Governor Rell's initial budget called for a 10-12 percent reduction in funding for a system that's designed to have open enrollment.
"If students arrive at our door, and we have open enrollment through August, we're supposed to be able, according to our mission, to add more classes, more seats on our classes and accommodate that demand. With budget limitations, that in effect puts a financial cap on our enrollments", says Cox.
For those students already on campus, the community college system now has agreements in place with UConn and the four state universities. Allowing students who follow one of many prescribed courses of study and maintain a certain grade point average, to transfer seamlessly into 4 year programs.
Chris Escourse is looking at making Storrs his next stop.
"They talk to you and tell you what classes you have to take, especially for UConn they know exactly what classes to make the transfer process easier", says Escourse.
Jenna Adams is headed to Quinnipiac University in the fall and will enter as a junior.
"All my classes transferred and MCC has done a great job with making classes competitive with the 4 year colleges" says Adams.
So while the near future for the community college system has some uncertainties, long term things are clear. Rising costs and changing technology will keep these campuses busy for decades to come, opening doors only higher education can.
