SMCC’s recent survey also found that 162 of its students already hold associate degrees, 224 hold bachelor’s degrees, and 20 hold master’s degrees. If so many students already hold degrees, why are they returning to community college?
“It’s an interesting thing, it’s a lot of second-career people,” said Sortor. “[Early morning classes] really cover the gamut from people who are changing careers because the career they were in no longer has viable job opportunities, to [those] changing jobs to something that they’ve always wanted to go into.”
Science and health are two of the most popular fields of study for SMCC’s students. Sortor attributed this to the economic downturn, and scarcity of job opportunities in creative fields.
“A lot of students whose undergraduate major is not something they’ve found to be conducive to a career [are] coming back to take courses at the undergraduate level to go on to graduate school, particularly in the sciences,” said Sortor. “Science, biotechnology—it’s a real niche area.”
While working professionals may embrace the opportunity to take classes at such an early hour, the jury is still out on how faculty members view the new offerings.
“I think that’s not clear yet,” said Sortor. “I think that some faculty may be interested in teaching early, but we won’t require faculty to become all early birds. I think there’s an opportunity here for everybody, and I don’t think we’ll have a hard time finding faculty to teach—[in fact] this may provide faculty the opportunity to have an earlier day.”
The first wave of early morning courses will include Introduction to Literature, English Composition, College Algebra, Introduction to Algebra, Introduction to Psychology, and Introduction to Sociology. SMCC plans to first offer core general education courses and examine student interest before offering higher-level courses at earlier times.
“It’s for a very specific demographic, and I think it will be popular,” said Sortor. “What we’ll be watching for and collecting data on is where and how we can expand it beyond core gen-ed classes. If there’s a trend of any kind, we’ll try to identify it and support students.”
Reducing the heavy traffic situation on its 7,574 student campus is another key goal of SMCC administrators. By offering early morning classes geared towards working professionals, administrators hope that driving patterns will stagger and traffic will decline.
SMCC officials will evaluate the early morning classes next semester, and if student retention and demand remain high, they plan to expand course offerings. Sortor believes that offering better opportunities for SMCC’s diverse student population will reflect promising results.
“We try to keep our eye on how we can better meet the needs of our students,” she said. “With working people, it’s that combination of opportunity and flexibility that may allow students to finish degrees that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to.”
On the other side of the time spectrum is Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) in Boston. In September 2009, BHCC became the first college in the country to offer midnight courses for its students.
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