MAT-SU — Enrollment numbers are up in at least two of the Valley’s largest post-secondary institutions.

At Mat-Su College, Marketing Manager Courtney Brooke Smith said enrollment is up 19 percent.

She said there are probably a few reasons why the numbers look so good. First, she said, the economy is likely playing a role. In tough job markets, students who have recently graduated recognize they need something more than a high school diploma.

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman Mat-Su College senior Cy Peterson receives help with class registration from enrollment specialist Bettina Reeder on Monday afternoon.

“They’ve become more sensitive to the importance of having that competitive advantage,” Smith said.

National trends seem to back Smith up on that score. The Pew Research Center announced last week that one of its studies found college enrollment for 18- to 24-year-olds hit an all-time national high in October. Pew reports 39.6 percent of students ages 18 to 24 were enrolled in a two- or four-year college program.

The research group attributes that jump to a “recession-era surge in enrollments at community colleges.”

But Smith said the local school’s numbers are also up for non-traditional students. Which is to say, that along with a jump in that 18-24 demographic, Mat-Su College saw nearly the same bump in enrollment of students older than that.

She said the college has embarked on an ad campaign, creating sites on Facebook and Myspace and putting advertising on cars. She thinks it’s paying off.

“We’re getting people to stop and say, ‘Tell us more about the school,’” she said.

She said people also might be excited about new programs set to start next school year. In fall 2010, the college will offer new programs in veterinary assisting and in paramedical technology, and the following spring a program will start up for renewable energy.

Over at the Alaska Job Corps Center, Business and Community Liaison John Douglass said enrollment numbers didn’t seem so great over the summer, but have since rebounded.

Earlier in the year the program had a full men’s dorm, but it had trouble filling spots in the women’s and family dorms.

“We’ve gone full cycle back down into the waiting list, not enough room in the men’s dorm,” Douglass said.

He said the program is running just over its target, and instead of now looking for students to enroll is searching for places to house them.

“Our contract requires that we keep a student population of 250, and today on center we have 255,” Douglass said Monday.

On the topic of economics, he said Job Corps students in Alaska are faring better than their counterparts in other states. As evidence, he pointed to a trio of awards the center received recently at the organization’s San Francisco Regional Leadership Conference. The Alaska center, he said in a press release, was No. 1 in the nation both for average wage of its graduates and for six-month weekly earnings. It was also the highest ranked in Job Corps’ San Francisco region as a transitions services operator.

“Our students are by far still seeing better than they do in the Lower 48 in terms of pay and job retention,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.