Community & Technical College Fast Facts

There are 34 community and technical colleges (CTCs) in Washington.
CTCs serve nearly 500,000 students each year.
The three mission areas of the CTCs are: workforce training, literacy education and transfer preparation to four-year institutions.

More than 45% of all students at CTCs enroll to upgrade their job skills or prepare for a new job.
41% of jobs in the workforce require the education that two-year colleges provide.
81% of workforce program graduates get jobs, even during the recent economic downturn.

Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) pairs adult basic education or English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) with workforce training. Eleven colleges began I-BEST programs late in the 2005-06 year. An additional 14 colleges began programs during 2006-07, bring the total to 25 colleges preparing students for jobs in nursing and allied health care, commercial truck driving, industrial maintenance, automotive, computers and early childhood education.
For the second year in a row, state-supported basic skills FTEs grew. There was a 20 percent increase in 2006. Still, demand for basic skills instruction continues to be unmet.

41% of bachelor’s degree graduates are community college transfer students.
More than 1/3 of transfer students are the first in their family to go to college.
Once two-year college transfer students earn a year’s worth of college credits, 87% of them move on to a four-year college within a year.

Enrollment at CTCs is expected to increase by 12,000 full-time students by the year 2012.
In 2006-07, 79,649 students enrolled in eLearning classes, including 72,482 taking online courses. eLearning enrollment continued its double-diit growth rate. In 2006-07, some 14,400 FTEs were served via online instruction, an increase of 16 percent from 2005-06.
Dual high school/college enrollments continued to grow at a significant pace. The number of Running Start enrollments grew by 5.1 percent in fall 2006. College in the High School and alternative high school enrollments also increased by 16 percent.
Short-term training offerings are drawing increased enrollments as the economy is expanding.