More students than ever before are enrolled at Griffin Technical College. As of Thursday, one day after classes for the fall quarter started, 5,255 students were attending Griffin Tech. This number also breaks the 5,000-mark for the first time.

“We had expected great numbers for this fall quarter, but this enrollment has far exceeded our expectations,” said Xenia Johns, vice president for student affairs at Griffin Tech, in a press release.

The current enrollment numbers pose an approximate 32 percent increase over the 3,571 students who were enrolled at Griffin Tech during this year’s summer quarter. Compared to the fall quarter of 2008, enrollment has gone up by about 22 percent from 4,175 students.

The last time Griffin Tech announced a record enrollment dates back to the winter quarter of 2002, when 4,383 students attended.

“We’ve experienced single-term enrollment growth for each of the past few quarters, but not nearly as much as this fall,” Johns said in the release.

A variety of factors have contributed to the increase in students, said Johns.

A dreary economy and recent area layoffs have drawn more people back to college, she said. Other incentives for going back to school include Griffin Tech’s increased number of online classes, the addition of several new programs and a “student first” customer service plan, Johns said.

“However, I also believe that the affordability of technical education is a tremendous plus, and the fact that a technical education allows graduates to make a swift transition into the workforce is very attractive to our students,” she said.

“Our main job is to provide the education these students are demanding and to continue to develop the workforce that will drive the economy of our state,” said Griffin Tech President Robert Arnold in the release.