Big Bend fall quarter enrollment up slightly

MOSES LAKE — Fall quarter enrollment at Big Bend Community College was slightly higher than enrollment in fall 2015. Summer quarter 2016 enrollment was up in terms of students on campus, but there were slightly fewer full-time students in summer 2016 as compared to 2015.

Enrollment information was reviewed at the meeting of BBCC trustees Oct. 27.

Fall quarter students were counted on the 10th day of classes, but the actual numbers for fall quarter were not available. Overall enrollment was up 1.5 percent when compared with fall 2015, the report said.

Enrollment in the college’s academic degree programs, adult basic education and English as a Second Language classes were up, the report said. There was, however, a 5 percent decrease in the number of full-time equivalent students in the college’s professional-technical programs.

The college’s Running Start program has 420 high school students taking one or more classes, an increase of 51 from the same period in 2015. Running Start allows qualifying high school students to take college classes without paying tuition. Running Start students are required to pay other fees, however.

The bulk of Running Start students come from Moses Lake, Ephrata, Quincy and Warden, but students are enrolled from almost every school in the college district (which includes Grant and Adams counties and the Odessa School District in Lincoln County), including alternative schools. There’s one Running Start student from Omak.

Summer enrollment was the equivalent of about 376 full-time students, up from 365 full-time student equivalents in summer 2015. (That’s how the college actually is paid by the state.) That’s an increase of about 2.5 percent. But the number of full-time summer students decreased from summer 2015.

The actual number of students attending at least one class during the summer went up by 205, from 675 in summer 2015 to 880 in summer 2016.

“There was a significant increase in the number of online students,” the report said. The online student count increased to 317, up from 178 in summer 2015.

In other business, vice-president of finance and administration Linda Schoonmaker reported the remodeling of an entrance into the Student Center (Building 1400) should be completed by late December as scheduled.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.