CANTON -- Registration is open for SUNY Canton's 2010-11 Winterterm, the largest and most comprehensive winter session in the College's history and across all SUNY schools. Classes begin on Dec. 20, and conclude on Jan. 16, 2011.

More than 100 online courses will be offered, and the College anticipates more than 1100 enrollments from across the country.

In 2009-10, the College had 800 enrollments in more than 60 courses for the winter session, a 45 percent increase from 2008-09.

Nearly 80 percent of the students enrolled came from colleges and universities other than SUNY Canton, according to Kyle Brown, director of online learning.

"Last year's Winterterm saw a large influx of students from notable private colleges and universities such as Syracuse University, the University of Albany, and Siena College," SUNY Canton President Joseph L. Kennedy. "This trend has continued during the first few weeks of this year's registration."

Brown noted that this year's Winterterm offers a comprehensive list of General Education courses, which are also referred to as Gen Ed Requirements or Gen Ed Foundations.

SUNY Canton began offering a completely online Winterterm in 2005-06 with 18 classes and 160 enrollments.

Annually, the program has grown with more courses and more students.

During the 2007-08 session there were more than 350 enrollments in 34 courses, and 550 enrollments in 48 courses in 2008-09.

The growth in popularity of these courses has led the College to open enrollment and Brown suggests that students register as early as possible by visiting the Winterterm page of the SUNY Canton website.