Chris Armstrong, 27, does not have a four-year college degree, but he has plenty of options--thanks in part to Baton Rouge Community College.

The Baton Rouge resident is a few months away from finishing LSU Shreveport's two-year physician's assistant program. When his clinical work is complete, he can expect to go to work for $80,000 or more a year. Or he may go to medical school.

Armstrong got where he is without a four-year degree.

Armstrong chose Baton Rouge Community College over LSU, attending classes in 1998 and 1999 while holding down a full-time job as a technician at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. "The community college allowed me to take classes at a lot more different times than LSU."

Small community college class sizes didn't hurt either. "You could raise your hand and they would actually explain it," Armstrong says.

In five years, Baton Rouge Community College has established itself as a force on the local scene.

Sailing hasn't always been smooth. A financial scandal was uncovered in 1999 with fiscal records in such disarray they couldn't be audited properly. The community college is looking for its third chancellor, despite its short life.

And Armstrong says a few of his courses were just too easy.

But overall, the community college is making its mark. LSU and Southern University are taking note of their cross-town neighbor, a two-year school that is snagging its share of 18-year-olds, plus plenty of older students--educators call them non-traditional.

USA Today has called Baton Rouge Community College the fastest growing two-year college in America. In the fall, enrollment is expected to surpass 6,000. Which is remarkable when one considers the school opened in the fall of 1998 with 1,010 students.

Fully 80 percent of BRCC's graduates go on to attend four-year colleges.

Interim Chancellor Leana Revell said BRCC students who go on to four-year schools do just as well as their classmates who have been at the universities all along. More than half of the community college's students enroll in general studies.

"Most students come here with the intent of going to college, but they don't know quite yet what they want," Revell said. With tuition about half that of LSU, the community college obviously is winning over its share of students.

"All our graduates have a general education core of courses, and we make sure they come out with solid skills in being able to think critically," Revell said.

The other 20 percent of community college graduates go on to jobs, or they're just studying to enrich their lives.

Peggy Bueche, 46, is a manager of a state Department of Transportation and Development department that reviews consulting contracts. She earned an associate of arts degree in liberal arts just to be able to say she was in the first graduating class at BRCC, but her studies led to much more.

First, she got a promotion at work, which she credits in part to her work at the community college. And now she is working on a general studies degree at LSU. After she retires from the state in a few years she hopes to pursue a master's in social work, which will kick off her second career, she said.

"I feel totally prepared,". Bueche said. "They (BRCC) are doing a great service."

Georgia Davis went to the community college to enrich herself. The 55-year-old retired from BellSouth in 1998 after working 32 years, starting as a phone operator and finally as an electronics technician. She always wanted to try to earn a degree, and the community college finally gave her an affordable opportunity.

"I'm retired, but maybe someday I'll go to work part time," she said. "At my age, if I went for four years, what would I do with a degree?".

BRCC offers seven associate degrees, from business to liberal arts. Most of the programs provide a foundation for just about any four-year college degree. Revell said she hopes associate degrees in computer science, teacher education and criminal justice are added in coming years.

The community college also offers non-credit programs to train process technicians for chemical plants. Classes and labs are conducted at a second BRCC campus on Highland Road near downtown at the foot of the Interstate 10 bridge. Local companies and the Louisiana Chemical Association helped develop the program to fill expected openings as the chemical plant work force grays in coming years.

Babs Babin of Dow Chemical in Plaquemine said the company has hired nine community college graduates and has hosted 25 interns in the program. She hopes the process tech program grows.

"We need the community college to be a bigger player," Babin said.

Will Hinson of Georgia Gulf has similar sentiments. "We've not hired anyone yet, but we'll be using this program certainly in the future; we just haven't had the positions available."

The community college soon will offer its downtown facilities to local companies that want to train groups of employees, Revell said. The training space will resemble a business incubator, offering computer lab and heavy duty work benches for industrial equipment.

Most of the community college's students go on to attend LSU, although Southern is starting to get its share. For now, Southern actually may be losing students to the community college.

Brenda Birkett, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said Southern's enrollment dropped by 3.7 percent last fall, to 9,095. It was the first drop since BRCC opened in 1998. A third of Southern's students come from East Baton Rouge Parish.

The enrollment decline, Birkett said, could be the result of some students choosing BRCC over Southern. And that may be the result of Southern instituting more rigorous entrance requirements for incoming freshmen. Either way, she said, BRCC is serving the city well.

A 1994 court agreement between the state' of Louisiana and the U.S. Justice Department in a desegregation case mandated that Southern would not stiffen its entrance requirements until a community college was up and running.

"We're happy to have BRCC," Birkett said. "We may lose freshmen and sophomores, but we'll get them as juniors 'and seniors."

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