At Northern Oklahoma Col-lege Enid, enrollment for the spring semester is up 10 percent from last year.

Edwin R. Vineyard, vice president of NOC Enid, said the biggest reason for that is the scarcity of jobs on the market.

“At our level, it’s a well-known phenomenon,” Vineyard said. “When people lose their jobs, people look for ways to land a better job in the future.”

For most people, finding a better job means going back to school and learning new things.

One of the most popular programs students in Enid go back to school for is nursing.

NOC Enid’s largest program is nursing, Vineyard said. Con-sidering Enid employs a large number of people in the health care field, it perhaps is only fitting nursing is the most popular program at the college.

“Students know if they get through the nursing program, they’re (likely) to get a job,” Vineyard said. “The demand is so high (for nursing).”

The nursing program at Northwestern Oklahoma State University is popular, too.

Dr. Cheryl Evans, dean of NWOSU-Enid campus, said seats for the nursing programs always are full, and this spring is no exception.

“It’s competitive to get in,” she said.

Other popular programs be-tween the two colleges are education, business administration, psychology and counseling.

Evans, dean of the 400-student campus, agrees with Vine-yard people tend to take the opportunity to go back to school during an economic downturn.

“Historically, when the economy takes a downward turn people take advantage to retool or take a degree to finish (their education),” Evans said.

Vineyard said historically, when there’s a high demand for a certain kind of job in Enid, some NWOSU-Enid students will leave school to take a job.

The opposite is the case when the economy is in a downswing. People may leave part-time positions to go back to school and try to get a jump-start on the job market once it improves.

NOC Enid and NWOSU-Enid have a program, called the Bridge Program, by which students can make a commitment to attend NWOSU-Enid once their two years at NOC Enid end.

Vineyard said it’s a popular program.

“Two hundred forty students have signed up for it,” he said. “Our enrollment is 1,020, so 20-plus percent of our students transfer to (NWOSU-Enid).”

Students who sign up for the Bridge Program can receive a scholarship toward their schooling at NWOSU-Enid.

Despite the increase in enrollment at NOC Enid, Vineyard says he is concerned the school may not have enough money to sustain its number of students in the future.

“The problem is our funding hasn’t gone up,” Vineyard said. “We’ve had a decrease in funding.”

Vineyard noted Okla-homa could continue to see budget cuts across the board, even for schools like NOC Enid and NWOSU-Enid.

“If the economy doesn’t improve and we see an increase in students, it’ll be a real challenge,” Vineyard said.