You can't beat the cost.

That is the main reason why students like Shirleen Sexton enroll in community college classes.

Sexton is one of an increasing number of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri residents who attend Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Ill.

Eighty-eight Missouri residents attended Shawnee two years ago. This fall, nearly 140 Missourians are enrolled at the Illinois school, including 44 from Cape Girardeau.

It is less expensive to take freshman- and sophomore-level courses at Shawnee than at Southeast Missouri State University.

The same holds true at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff and at the Bootheel Education Center at Malden. Most of the Malden center's classes are taught by Three Rivers instructors.

Tuition has increased dramatically at many four-year schools, including Southeast.

"More and more students are deciding that it makes good sense to get some of the basic course work out of the way at a community college," said Tom Riechman, Shawnee's public relations director.

Three Rivers' Brad Barwick echoes that view. "Students are looking at it as a better deal for them," said Barwick, who directs administrative affairs at the school.

Southeast charges $87.50 a credit hour for Missouri residents.

In contrast, Sexton is paying $51 a credit hour to take classes at Shawnee this fall.

Even with a $1.25 service charge added to the fee, Sexton will spend $35 less per credit hour than she would if she attended Southeast.

Sexton is an older student. She graduated from Kelly High School 13 years ago.

She attended Southeast for four semesters. "I quit," Sexton said. "I really didn't like it."

She stayed in Cape Girardeau and now works at St. Francis Medical Center. During a performance evaluation two years ago, her boss asked her what she was going to do with the rest of her life.

"She really motivated me to go back to school," Sexton said.

She has attended Shawnee since January 1994, and will graduate in May with a two-year computer degree.

Aside from cost, Sexton said the community college is less intimidating than a university.

With open enrollment, it also is easier to get in. Students need only a high school diploma or its equivalent to be admitted to a community college.

More than 2,100 students were enrolled in classes at Shawnee's Ullin campus and its four extension campuses last year. The extension campuses are at Anna, Cairo, Vienna and Metropolis.

"The only negative thing is the drive," said Sexton. The trip from Cape Girardeau to Ullin takes 50 minutes one way.

Community colleges are financed in part by a tax. Residents in the taxing district pay lower tuition than do those who live outside the area.

At Shawnee, in-district students pay $28 a credit hour, while Illinois residents outside the district pay $77 per credit hour. The district encompasses five counties and parts of two others.

Out-of-state students have to pay $202 a credit hour unless they live in what Shawnee officials call their "collar counties."

Shawnee charges the $51 rate to students living in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Mississippi, New Madrid, Scott and Stoddard counties, and in eight "collar counties" in the Paducah, Ky., area.

Shawnee's enrollment has increased steadily over the last five years. "We have increased probably 5 to 6 percent each semester," Riechman said.

Shawnee opened for classes in September 1969. Its main campus is nearing capacity. The school has applied to the state board of education for money to build a new classroom and laboratory addition.

COMPARING COLLEGE COSTS

This fall, a Cape Girardeau resident would spend:

per credit hour to attend:

$87.50 Southeast Missouri State University.

$53 Three Rivers Community College classes at the Bootheel Education Center at Malden.

$51 Shawnee Community College at Ullin, Ill.

$47 Three Rivers Community College at Poplar Bluff.