Community-college challenges in Montana

Becky Sweat drives 200 miles roundtrip several days a week from her home southeast of Broadus to Miles City, where she is a sophomore nursing student at Miles Community College.

At Miles, she can earn a two-year degree at a reasonable price and find a meaningful, well-paid job when she graduates.

"When you live in a rural community, you do what you have to do," said the 44-year-old mother of two about the distance she travels each week.

The long commute doesn’t bother her. She encounters little traffic except for a deer or two trotting across the highway. The drive gives her time to decompress.

Sweat likes the Miles program so much that she may recommend spending at least a year at a community college to her 13-year-old daughter when she is ready for college.

By MARY PICKETT
Of The Gazette Staff

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?ts=1&display=rednews/2005/09/18/build/magazine/25-com-college.inc