Attending a four-year university immediately after high school just wasn’t in the cards for St. Charles resident Kathy Arseneau.

Instead, she spent two years at Elgin Community College before taking time off to save money and help her mother pay bills.

“It’s hard,” said Arseneau, now 26 and back to her life as a full-time student and part-time grocery employee. “Everyone worries about how they’re going to pay for school. It’s not fun. I’m stressed all the time on how I’m going to afford the semester.”

After record-high enrollment at suburban community colleges over the last few years, numbers are falling slightly as students such as Arseneau must balance higher education with the need to earn a paycheck during continued economic uncertainty.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune.