College applications by graduating high school students has jumped 8.6 per cent this year. (Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)

Mature students hoping to jump-start their careers are flocking to Ontario community colleges in droves, making it harder for high school students to be admitted.

Applications for spots at community colleges in September jumped by 18 per cent this year, according to numbers released Thursday by Colleges Ontario. The association, which represents the province's 24 community colleges, said the number of applicants overall is up by 14 per cent for a total of more than 100,000.

Last year's recession — and the accompanying layoffs — forced many veterans of the workforce to consider a career change as they look to boost their employment prospects.

Vlastimier Fabien worked for 24 years as an engineer, but the computer chip manufacturer he worked for shut down last year. He has now enrolled in a real estate program at Toronto's Seneca college.

"When you lose [your] job and economy is not good and you see your friends are losing jobs, it's not [an] easy situation. So I realize ... the only chance is to get some other qualifications," he told CBC News.

The number of applications from high school students graduating this year, meanwhile, has also jumped by 8.6 per cent.

Applications to Ontario's universities are also up, albeit at a more modest clip. Numbers released late January show 86,500 students have sent in applications to the Ontario universities' application centre, up almost three per cent compared to last year.

College 'trying to be creative'

Toronto's George Brown College is trying to grapple with a 28 per cent jump in the number of mature students applying for admission in September.

"We won't be able to accept all of the applicants. We never have," said Anne Sado, President of George Brown College. "We've always had more applicants than spots. But we are trying to be creative and accommodate as many of the students as we can."

Some programs can be expanded, but others depend on physical spaces, and the number is set, she said.

That could mean qualified students could be turned away from the program of their choice.

The increase in applications has far exceeded the expectations of both the government and the colleges. They were predicting just a 3.2 per cent increase, according to Colleges Ontario President Linda Franklin.

And unless the province hikes funding by more than $160 million, the colleges say they won't be able to accommodate the increased number of Grade 12 and mature students applying for this fall.

John Milloy, the minister of training, colleges and universities, is thrilled with the increase.

"Participation in post-secondary education has been one of our goals so I think it's great that more people are ... applying to our colleges. I think it's wonderful news for our province," he said.

Milloy declined to say whether the colleges will receive the $160 million they are requesting.

The opposition Conservatives have said the situation is dire enough to warrant such unorthodox solutions as converting shuttered factories to classrooms and re-hiring retired professors in order to admit more students to their programs of choice.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has left the door open for such a move, saying earlier this week such steps can't be dismissed. He has vowed to address the surge in applications in his March budget.

With files from The Canadian Press