Spartanburg Community College FlexStart Classes Allow Rolling Enrollment

By: Connie LeGrand | News Channel 7
Published: October 06, 2009

While enrollment at community college is up about 10% nationwide, an Upstate college is up 19% from this same time last year. One reason may be the fact that you aren't limited to starting at just the fall, spring or summer. They have "rolling enrollment" which means when you are ready to start, you pretty much can.

When the economy took a turn for the worst, many workers began seriously considering a second career, and with it came the need to go back to school. According to Kelley Jones, Executive Assistant to the President at Spartanburg Community College, "Education is one of those things that when you decide you want to take the plunge, you want some information, you want some answers, and you want to start right then." Spartanburg Community College's solution is FlexStart classes. Start dates this semester were spread from August 17 for the first session all the way to a fifth which begins October 26. All of the classes will wrap up by December.

Jones says, "A lot of our students have full-time jobs, families, lots of other commitments, so allowing that flexibility to maybe this semester I’m going to take a 15 week term and it's spread out of a little bit longer time, but I don't have to come to campus quite as much, and that would be a good option at this time in your life... Verses I’ve got five weeks, and I can get a couple of classes in."

A more traditional student, Wesley Terrill is on the fast course to four year college. The FlexStart student says, "I’m taking an overload so it helped me to get started with my regular classes and then jump into another class." He started the semester in August with 18 credit hours to see if he could handle it. In September he added another three so he can graduate in the spring, go on to earn his bachelor's degree and get out into the work world. "Oh it's very important, so I can help take care of my mother who has taken care of my brother and I," says Terrill.

The FlexStart classes also allow extra time for students to finanalize financial aid, which can sometimes hold up a student's registration at the start of school. Many of the FlexStart classes are in "core curriculum" like English and math which provides more options for those high demand classes.