BELLEVUE, Wash. — With unemployment high and job prospects low, students looking to hone their skills are flooding community colleges in Washington state.

Almost 8,500 more students than expected showed up in community colleges this fall across the state, said Barbara Dunn, communications director for the state's Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Some schools expect final fall enrollment counts to be up 12 percent over last year, said Lorna Sutton, communications director for the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

"People are coming back to retrain so they can get new jobs or upgrade their skills to hang onto the jobs they have," she said.

High unemployment is a key factor. In August, Washington had the highest unemployment rate in the country, 7.2 percent, according to the state Employment Security Department.

Enrollment at Bellevue Community College — the state's third largest college behind the University of Washington and Washington State University — has climbed 3 percent over last year and the final count for the fall isn't complete.

"Traditionally, we find that when the economy turns sour, the enrollment rises. … A lot of people head back to retool their skills and get additional training," said Bob Adams, the Bellevue college's director of college relations.

At Green River Community College in Auburn, 700 more students are enrolled in classes than at this time last year, said spokesman John Ramsey.

The majority of Green River's growth comes from a state-sponsored worker retraining program that's popular with people who have been recently laid off, Ramsey said.

The program grew to 500 students this year, up from 220 last year, he said. To qualify, students must meet one of several qualifications, including being recently laid off.

Ramsey noted that students are choosing different kinds of classes.

Courses that were sought a few years ago, including some in the high-tech area, are losing out to a resurgent interest in health care and security, as well as traditional studies such as automotive technology, welding and carpentry, he said.

The Bellevue college is offering more accelerated "Fast Track" classes this year that allow people to finish in six months rather than two years. Adams said automated fingerprint identity, Web security and wireless communications technology are particularly popular.

Barry Bronson, 44, said without the Bellevue "Fast Track" program he would probably be working in retail for half of what he was earning before getting laid off from his job in Web-based corporate training last year.

He decided to go back to school for additional training in his field to make himself more attractive to prospective employers.

"Now, I have a lot more proficiency and technical expertise. I'll be much more valuable" to employers, he said.

Judy Tate, a 51-year-old former Boeing machinist who was laid off in December after 15 years with the company, is studying automotive technology and hoping for work in a repair shop after she gets certified by the Green River college. Without the program, she said she'd take any job she could get.

"I would be out hitting the streets looking for whatever," she said. "There just aren't a lot of machinists' jobs out there right now. It would be pretty bleak."

On the Net:

Board for Community and Technical Colleges: http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/

Higher Education Coordinating Board: http://www.hecb.wa.gov/

Employment Security Department: http://www.wa.gov/esd/