MOULTRIE — It is indeed true, as the slogan goes, that Moultrie Technical College is “everywhere you turn.”

This week, MTC hosted the Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority monthly meeting. Development officials learned of its successes and the challenges facing the “economic development engine,” as the institution is called by MTC President Tina Anderson.

MTC has had a dip in enrollment in the past year. That was caused by a decrease in enrollment on the Moultrie campus, Anderson said. MTC satellites in Tift, Turner and Worth counties continue to enjoy increases, she said.

Colquitt County’s stumble in enrollment could be due to new industry, most notably Sanderson Farms, coming in and offering employment to thousands.

“If we’ve got to take a dip because there’s so many new jobs, we’ll take it — but we wouldn’t take it for any other reason,” she said.

The MTC campus is in need of expansion, Anderson said. The facility on the bypass is full and the old campus remains full and requires $2 million in repairs every five years. Anderson pushed to get on the state’s list for construction. It was 10th on the list but later was bumped to 12th.

“We’ve got 75 acres here. We could put 10 more half-campuses here,” Anderson said, referring to the campus on Veterans Parkway as a half-campus.

Enrollment has outpaced funding at MTC. In the past decade, enrollment has increased 139 percent while its budget has increased by only 89 percent, she said. State cuts have been managed without laying off employees, she said, and the MTC Foundation has been successful at raising funds.

On to MTC’s successes: Ninety-eight percent of MTC students graduate, and 93 percent graduate in their field. Eighty percent of graduates stay in the 50-mile local area. The most recent retention rate for MTC is 60 percent.

Its dual enrollment program now enrolls 66 Colquitt County high school students. Dual enrollment means that a high school student is taking classes at MTC that simultaneously go to high school credit and college credit. Colquitt County’s graduation rate of participants is 100 percent, she said.

The entire program totals 368 students, which is the highest enrollment this quarter in the entire state system of 33 technical colleges, Anderson said. Tift County has the most students dually enrolled at 142. Worth County enrolls 113 students and Turner County enrolls 47.

Students can pay for dual enrollment classes through the HOPE grant program. Anderson paused to mention that technical colleges are asking the legislature and the governor to remove the cap on HOPE.

“Right now, HOPE has a cap on it. Students can only use so much of it, and then they lose it,” she said. “What happens is that parents are thinking ... ‘Do I want to use their HOPE when it’s $36 a credit hour at technical college or do I wait to use it at the University of Georgia or Valdosta State or ABAC. They’re having a struggle with that. If they remove the cap, parents and students don’t even have to think about it anymore.”

In Tifton, MTC partnered with Tift County Schools to work with 36 students who were on the verge of dropping out of high school, said Shawn Utley, vice president of economic development. Instructors worked with them in the morning with credit recovery, and in the afternoon, they attended dual enrollment classes while still on the high school campus.

“These were 36 kids that weren’t going to graduate, and they knew that. They weren’t going to graduate. Twenty-one of those 36 graduated,” Utley said. “This year, 12 of those 15 who didn’t graduate are back with us. They’re still in school.”