Enrollments and Stress Growing Fast at La. Colleges.

Enrollments and Stress Growing Fast at La. Colleges. BATON ROUGE Baton Rouge(băt`ən rzh)[Fr.,=red stick], city (1990 pop. 219,531), state capital and seat of East Baton Rouge parish, SE La. , La. (AP) -- Many of Louisiana's officials areplacing a major emphasis on the growth of the state's community andtechnical colleges, which now enroll roughly 80,000 students. While that stress is apparent in legislative actions, education andstate officials are concerned whether community colleges are growing toofast and too soon, especially during times of higher education budgetcuts. The 11-year-old Louisiana Community and Technical College Systemhas essentially doubled enrollment the past five years. Senate Education Committee Chairman Ben Nevers said he is unsurewhether two-year schools can keep up with the "gaping holes"in student demand, such as Delgado Community College Delgado Community College is a Louisiana public community college with campuses throughout the New Orleans metropolitan area, the East and West Banks of New Orleans, the East Bank of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Covington, Louisiana in New Orleans New Orleans(ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded having to turn some students away. "I'm very concerned about whether we can provide theseservices in every part of the state and maintain the quality,"Nevers said. "It's yet to be seen if we can do that." The near overflow of students is occurring even though somecolleges are expanding and Louisiana Delta Community College in Monroejust moved into a new campus, LCTCS LCTCS Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Joe May said. "Our enrollment growth will outpace permanent infrastructure(growth)," May said, noting the reliance on rented spaces willgrow. Other than a few projects that already are authorized, two-yearcolleges do not have the state dollars in their budget to expandphysically, May said. "It's something we understand and we know. It's notsomething we like," May said. But he insisted that such issues arebeing well managed. Gov. Bobby Jindal Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971, in Baton Rouge) is the Republican Governor-elect of the U.S. state of Louisiana. He defeated eleven opponents in the jungle primary held on October 20, 2007, including two prominent Democrats, State Senator Walter Boasso of Chalmette and and legislators have keyed in on the growth ofcommunity and technical colleges as necessary for economic development,often citing the so-called "75-25 split." Nearly 75 percent of "full-time equivalent" collegestudents in the state are enrolled in more-expensive, traditionalfour-year universities. Twenty-five percent go to the two-year schools. Including part-timestudents in the count, the ratio reflects a 65-35 percent split betweenfour-year universities and two-year schools. But May and others say a 50-50 percent split is needed to savemoney and grow the workforce through more certificates and associatedegrees, arguing that most new jobs do not require bachelor'sdegrees. Nearby states such as Texas and Florida are much closer to 50percent.