MARIETTA - Georgia's largest technical college just got bigger.

Chattahoochee Technical College is boasting its highest enrollment ever this spring - a time of year that is usually slightly lower than fall quarter.

School officials are reporting enrollment for spring quarter, which began March 31, at 11,605. Fall 2009 enrollment was 11,515 and the winter 2010 enrollment was 11,365.

In July 2009, Chattahoochee Technical College merged with Appalachian Technical College and North Metro Technical College. CTC has seven campus locations including two in Marietta, one in South Cobb and one in Acworth.

Before the merger, the three colleges had a combined spring 2009 enrollment of 9,171, which is 26 percent less than this spring's number.

School President Dr. Sanford Chandler and other officials said they were fairly surprised by this spring's increase in students.

"The increase in enrollment compared to the fall quarter is certainly not typical," Chandler said.

Chandler credits the economy and the college's variety of course offerings for the high numbers in enrollment.

"The economy has definitely played a large part in our enrollment increases this year," he said. "Students are highly committed to completing their program of study in preparation of future employment opportunities."

To accommodate the college's growing need, Chandler said the university has streamlined its registration process, creating priority registration periods based on students' accumulated credit hours.

"In addition, we've relocated academic programs to meet student demands while creating more instructional efficiency in the classroom and with online curriculum, both allowing for more student enrollment," he said.

According to the college, students are flocking to CTC's online classes, which offer greater scheduling flexibility. School officials report that the college has seen an increase of more than 56 percent in popularity of their online courses, with 3,062 students enrolling in at least one online class this quarter.

"The variety of course offerings we have at Chattahoochee Technical College has helped as well," Chandler said.

Offering more than 100 certificate, diploma and associate degree programs, the newly merged CTC is now the largest technical college and the ninth largest postsecondary school in the state.