Enrollment at the technical college in Janesville has surged with the end of SUV production at General Motors there.

Workers whose jobs were lost say the federal Trade Readjustment Allowance program should provide enough support to get through two years of technical college. The program pays for unemployment, college tuition, books and supplies.

At Blackhawk Technical College, full-time enrollment has increased about 22 percent.

Blackhawk president Eric Larson says he expects the enrollment surge to continue in the next academic year when more former GM workers turn to the college after exhausting their severance packages.

After the GM shutdown in December, Janesville's unemployment rate climbed to 14.6 percent by February, compared with the statewide average of 8.8 percent.

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