"We've seen continuing growth in online courses for a number of years," said Ron Young, HACC vice president, academic affairs and enrollment management. "This year's jump of 25 percent is right on that same growth curve."
Convenience is the prime reason cited by students opting for online courses, he said, who often are fitting college classes into a busy personal and work life.
"We think convenience is also helping drive the significant growth in our newest location in York," he said.
Opened less than two years ago, the York Center saw an increase of nearly 70 percent in enrollments over the previous year.
"Opening our new permanent location in York and adding daytime classes helped open college opportunities to a number of York-area residents who weren't able to attend college before," he said. "While we had students from York attending our Harrisburg, Lancaster and Gettysburg campuses previously, the opening of a center right in York helped make the college more accessible to York residents."
The college begins classes on Monday but there are late-start classes at some HACC campuses which don't start until September 25.
HACC serves an eight-county primary service area in Central Pennsylvania from its campuses at Harrisburg on One HACC Drive across from the Farm Show Complex at the intersection of Cameron Street and Elmerton, Gettysburg at 731 Old Harrisburg Road in Gettysburg; Lancaster at 1641 Old Philadelphia Pike in Lancaster; Lebanon at 735 Cumberland Street in Lebanon and the York Center at 2010 Pennsylvania Avenue in York. And, of course, the virtual campus is available on the World Wide Web at the address below.