Centralia resident Ray Bell was a millwright at a local lumber mill. Tara Attoway was a massage therapist searching for regular employment.

    Then the recession hit the U.S. economy hard, and both had to regroup.

    Today, they both attend Centralia College as part of the record enrollment boom announced by the administration last week.

    “There’s a lot more people coming into the program this year than last,” said Bell, now in his second year of the college’s energy technology program. “I think a lot of it has to do with the economy.”

    The influx of college students was one notable find of the 2008 U.S. census, an annual count of America that impacts congressional districts and monetary allocations and tallies people and diversity.

    The census, released earlier this month, found that college students from Lewis County represent 21.2 percent of the total number of residents ages 3 and older who are enrolled in school.

    That percentage represents approximately 3,700 students, up from about 2,050 in 2007. The data reflects state and national trends as well, where the survey found broad increases in the number of residents heading to either two or four-year institutions.

    Centralia College spokesman Don Frey said the college expects to have a record amount of state funded students in the 2009-2010 academic year. The record was set last year, and though current enrollment is still short, Frey said the college expects an increase over the next two quarters.

    “One of the best ways to deal with (unemployment) is to update your skills and prepare for a new career,” Frey said, adding that slashes to higher education budgets have made the job of educators more difficult.

    Along with the increase in college enrollment, the number of children enrolled in pre-school also saw a sharp spike.

    Preschoolers accounted for 3.5 percent of school enrollment in 2007 and 7.9 percent in 2008.

    Eric Schwartz: (360) 807-8245