Austin Community College has grown its enrollment for the past four semesters. Some 41,000 students are registered for credit courses in the Spring 2010 semester.
Rudolfo Mack is one of those students. He's working on his Associates Degree in Power Technology. He hopes to land the right job when he graduates.
"Industries like Austin Energy, LCRA, Pedernales, those types of companies. Mainly because I enjoy that type of work, and you can't ship those to China," said Mack.
That is what happened to his last job in the semi-conductor industry. He's part of a growing trend of students who already have a college degree, but are now adding an associates degree in an emerging field.
Hector Aguilar has been teaching at ACC for 11 years. He's the department chair for Electronics and Advanced Technology.
"From 2006 spring semester to today, this semester, we've increased 122 percent enrollment in our department," said Aguilar.
That includes everything from robotics to general electronics to energy jobs.
"Many students are interested in this area because those are jobs that pay relatively well, they're not outsourcing, you need people who are going to be doing that here in Austin for the next 40 years," he said.
That department is not the only division growing at ACC.
"Significant growth in automotive technology. In visual communication and design - a lot of that was spurred by games development and design program," said Mike Midgley, vice president of Workforce Education & Business Development at ACC.
He says the other big growth area is in the core classes, which are courses that transfer to a four-year university.
In part, it is the economy. A full load of courses at ACC costs about $660. That's thousands of dollars cheaper than a four-year university.
There are a few degrees at ACC that aren't growing --real estate and traditional construction.
