Four-year schools courting community college graduates - Joe Burris, Baltimore Sun

Nationally, community college enrollment has increased by more than 20 percent over the last three years, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. In Maryland, 9,702 students transferred from the state's two-year schools to its four-year schools during the academic year that ended in 2009, according to the state Higher Education Commission. That's up from 7,902 students four years earlier — a 23 percent increase. "We have some very ambitious statewide goals for college completion," said Danette Howard, the state's interim secretary for higher education. Students who have attended two-year institutions say their experiences have defied expectations about college life.