ANNE ARUNDEL COMMUNITY COLLEGE 499

strates the great purpose, the great acceptance of and demand for
the two-year institution of higher education.

In September of 1961, enrollment for the college's first academic
year was 270 students. Five years later, the enrollment had leaped to
913 students. This year, with the advent of the new campus, I under-
stand that the enrollment has increased to more than 1400, and that
within five years this figure is expected to double.

The new campus has not only enabled the college to expand its
enrollment and curricula but has modified its character as an institu-
tion. The transition from a late afternoon-evening college to a full
daytime and evening program will be accompanied by an increase in
the fulltime student population.

The new campus will also enable the college to function more ef-
fectively as a versatile community college, to offer more career-oriented
and technological training programs, to develop more continuing
education courses.

The community college, with its accessible, commuting campus,
its relatively low tuition and fees, and its "open door" admissions
policy, has extended the opportunity for higher education to the many
once denied this privilege. The "late bloomer" and the high school
graduate, who once could not financially afford a college education,
have found the community college a solution and a salvation.

Today, as never before, future career expectations depend upon
educational attainment; future economic security and success are re-
lated to educational achievement. In our democracy every young per-
son should have an equal opportunity to obtain a higher education,
regardless of his station in life or financial means. Yet only about
two-thirds of all students who could benefit from a college education
are receiving one. We have learned that when we close the college
door on our less affluent or less academically-oriented students, we are
compounding their misfortunes, we are condemning them to a life
of limited expectations, and we are denying society the benefit of their
full potential. The community college has evolved to fulfill the prom-
ise of our democratic principle, to offer every individual every op
portunity to pursue and continue his education.

And in this case where the individual is served, the total community
benefits. Community colleges are providing continuing education for
adults, re-education for occupational upgrading, noncredit enrichment
courses and a wide variety of cultural and intellectual programs.