Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 --- 4:10 p.m.

The downturn in the economy is driving up the number of students who are returning to community and technical colleges for a second year. A survey by ACT found 54% of students returned for a second year nationwide.

And as NBC 15's Michelle Riell reports, not only is MATC above the national trend, it's seen a dramatic jump in enrollment at a very untraditional time.

Nick Bollow says, "I'm taking classes that will end up transferring to the program at UW Madison." Bollow is a sophomore. He's working toward a degree in computer science, but chose to start his higher education at MATC. Bollow says, "For one, it's cheaper here, to get those credits that you need to graduate and also, uh, it just seemed, I had taken a couple years off after high school and this seemed like a better way to re-acclimate myself into the college environment." He's working and getting help from his parents and says determination brought him back after his freshman year. Bollow says, "Once I had taken the first year and I was set to go along this path, um I was determined, despite the economy, whatever situation came up, I would get through it."

He is one of thousands of students getting through it. MATC continues to see a gradual increase in student retention and this past year retained 70% of its freshman, nearly 20% higher than the national average. The downturn in the economy is also spiking enrollment at a typically slower time, winter. Terry Webb says, "This term right now, we took a big jump, it went up 5% over the previous year's enrollment." Webb, V-P of Learner Success at MATC, says they are seeing students like Bollow looking to save as much as 30% on tuition and adults looking for online courses and flexible schedules. Webb says, "People are looking for secure employment options, so we're seeing increases in enrollment in things like health care fields, that's our biggest increase." In fact, there's a waiting list to get in.

But Webb says their numbers are not an accident, they've created a number of support systems to meet the evolving needs of their students.

The survey also found four year Universities nationwide are seeing a decline in student retention to just 66%, the lowest since 1989. However, the U-W System says it's bucking the trend with an average retention rate of about 80%.