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This fall, St. Louis Community College students were standing in line at 5 a.m. not for concert or sporting-event tickets, but to get on the waiting list to be one of the 35-40 students accepted in the school's dental hygiene program on the Forest Park campus.
Students selected for the two-year dental hygiene program can earn an associate's degree with 100 percent job placement and a starting salary of $30 to $36 per hour according to Henry Shannon, chancellor of St. Louis Community College.
"The demand for graduates far exceeds students, since we are one of the only programs in the region," Shannon said.
There are currently more than 60 students on the waiting list. That means it will be two years before the some of the students can enter the program. Although Shannon said the college would like to accept more students, budget constraints and the need to keep a low student-to-teacher ratio make that impossible.
The waiting list occurs because the St. Louis Community College dental hygiene program accepts qualified students on a first come, first served basis, said Pat...