Last Updated:September 10. 2007 11:33PM
Published: September 11. 2007 3:30AM

Enrollment at Northwest-Shoals Community College is up for the fall semester with 3,647 students on campus, an increase of 7 percent over a year ago.

Humphrey Lee, president of the community college, attributes the figures to the growth in the welding program as well as to the nearly 200 first-time freshmen enrolled in general education courses.

"I chalk that up to our holding the line in tuition and an increase in our marketing efforts," he said.

Northwest-Shoals, which has campuses in Muscle Shoals and Phil Campbell, is among the more than three dozen two-year colleges in the state. Unlike four-year schools, which are under the umbrella of the Alabama Commission of Higher Education for curriculum changes, two-year schools are uniquely positioned to change their course offerings to meet the needs of the community they serve.

The downside to this system, however, is that community colleges often suffer in good economic times. Although enrollment is up this semester at Northwest-Shoals, it's well below the more than 4,500 students enrolled during the 2002-03 fall semester. Many of the students that year were seeking to upgrade their skills after local textile jobs had been outsourced.

The increase in the number of students involved in the welding program at Northwest-Shoals is a direct response to the needs of National Alabama Corp., a railcar company that is expected to open for production in 2009 at the Barton Riverfront Industrial Park.

"When unemployment is low, we're obviously going to have to do a better job of providing skills for the people who are in the work force," Lee said. "But it's not just welders who are needed. There will also be a need for fabricators, machinists, industrial maintenance - it's revitalizing an interest in technical occupation education."

Scandals at the highest levels of the two-year college system in Alabama have brought waves of bad press to the organization, and some say that has had an adverse effect on enrollment figures. None of those scandals involved current administrators at the college.

Bradley Byrne was named chancellor in July, and he said among his first duties in the job was to keep tuition rates stable for the year at all community colleges in the state.

It was a gamble that seems to be paying off. Like Northwest-Shoals, Calhoun Community College, with campuses in Decatur and Tanner, has also seen an enrollment increase.

"The governor and chancellor want us to be there for business and industry, and the challenge is to pick the skills sets that will be easy to model curriculum after," Lee said. "What drives the engine for this area is economic development, and these jobs are a way to sustain that growth."

With student growth on campus, Lee has said one priority is growing students' opportunity to find a meeting place on campus outside of the classroom.

Karen Baggett, a sophomore from Moulton, is happy to hear the news.

"We need somewhere to hang out and get to know each other," she said. "My parents went to (Northwest) Shoals when it was just Phil Campbell, and they got to know other people in the student union. It was how they met. I haven't gotten to have that same experience."

Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@timesdaily.com.