COLUMBIA, S.C.

Two-year colleges in South Carolina and around the nation are rewriting schedules so cash-strapped students can save on commuting costs.

Many are eliminating Friday classes from their traditional Monday-Wednesday-Friday school weeks, or crafting schedules that allow students to come to campus only one day a week. Schools also are opening more satellite offices so students don't have to drive as far, or increasing online courses that mean no drives at all.

``It is a big help. Gas prices are through the roof,'' said Bridget Morton, an 18-year-old freshman planning a nursing career with the help of Northeastern Technical College. Schedule changes at the Cheraw school mean one less 30-mile round-trip from her home in Chesterfield each week.

And that's a skate of a ride compared with what Melissa Pate had last year. She'd drive 100 miles round trip a couple of times a week from her Fort Lawn home, then to work and then to classes tied to a nursing program at York Technical College.

York Tech shortened its weekly schedule in 2006 as gas prices hit $2.77 for a gallon of regular, which meant Pate only had to commute two days a week instead of three. ``Without that, I wouldn't have been able to afford to go to school,'' she said.

These days, the 33-year-old Pate has it even easier: She's taking her remaining classes online and expects to earn her degree in October. It's a good thing. A survey of 885 students done by the school this year showed gas prices are the top personal finance concern for half the students on a campus where a third drive 20 miles or more to get to class.

South Carolina colleges aren't alone in finding ways to cut costs for students who fill seats at two-year schools.

·         Alabama Community College System Chancellor Bradley Byrne has encouraged administrators at 60 campuses to go to four-day schedules to help commuting students and those working full-time jobs. It's about gas prices, Byrne said. ``It is a pretty major factor for them, so we're trying to make it as easy as we can and as cost effective as we can,'' he said.