KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pellissippi State's Blount County campus is welcoming new students at orientation as the school system works to get its enrollment numbers up. And it's not the only school working on recruitment. The Tennessee College of Applied Technology, or TCAT, is working to keep its enrollment on the rise.
One of the growing programs at the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technologies in Knoxville is surgical technology.
"There's a large need for this profession," said Abby Jedlicka, the surgical technology program director. "Often people don't know what a surgical technologist is. They know what a nurse is. They know what a doctor or a surgeon is. But they don't realize that there's a specialist in the room. And that person learns everything that there is to know about sterile technique and how to assist a surgeon and surgical procedures."
TCAT said this program is great for those looking to get their start, or people who want to try something new.
"It's not uncommon for people that come into our program to have just recently learned what a surgical technologist is," said Jedlicka. "Some people actually do know what a surgical technologist is. And then we've actually had quite a few students that started in some of the other TCAT programs here, and then they learned what a surgical technologist was and once they graduated we've had TCAT alumni come back and go to school in our program for the year and then continue on their path and their schooling."
Pellissippi State Community College has the largest community college enrollment in the state. But during the COVID-19 Pandemic, it saw lower student numbers.
"Enrollment did go down for all community colleges," said Anna Graham, the Dean of the Blount County Pellissippi State campus.
Both schools are recruiting, from all over. They target high school students, veterans and non-college-age adults.
"I have a team of four recruiters that go out to anything from college fairs, job fairs, different community events," said Lucas Gray, the Coordinator of Student Services at TCAT Knoxville. "We do a lot of recruiting with veterans in the area. Veterans can use their GI bill benefits here at TCAT, that is an option."
The schools also keep in touch with workforce experts to know what they need to succeed.
"What I think Pellissippi and community colleges want to do is, there's that word, 'community,'" said Graham. "And we want to build community with students at whatever level they want. But we want to provide opportunities for them to get to know people, get to know their instructors and know that there's a ton of support here. Because the world is fast changing, technology is changing, industry demands are changing. So we want to pivot as much as we can, probably from the services approach, to help support them as they navigate this 21st century world."
TCAT also said its students mostly graduate without student loan debt.
"I think it's important for people to know that TCAT exists, just because some people do enjoy working with their hands more," said Gray. "They want that career that they can get in a year and get out there and have a good career and be in the workforce and not have any student loan debt or not having any, you know, accumulated debt while they're in school. That is one thing that is kind of different about us as well, as we don't participate in any student loan program. So any aid that a student gets here is going to be grant aid or scholarship aid. It's not aid that they're required to pay back."
Students can use the Tennessee Promise scholarship at all 37 community technical colleges across the state, making the cost of these types of schools even lower for students seeking higher education.
Graham said any students who need help filling out their FAFSA, whether they're planning on attending Pellissippi State or not, can reach out to the school for help. The deadline to fill out FAFSA to be eligible for Tennesse Promise has been extended to Aug. 1.
The University of Tennessee has also seen an increase in enrollment during the pandemic. There were nearly 30,000 students enrolled in the fall 2019 semester. And by the fall 2023 semester, there were more than 36,000 students enrolled.