BLINN COLLEGE FALL ENROLLMENT DOWN, BUT BY LESS THAN EXPECTED

  

Enrollment at Blinn College is down to start the 2021 academic year, although by less than what was previously anticipated.

Vice Chancellor for Student Services Dr. Becky McBride presented the Blinn Board of Trustees on Tuesday with a report regarding preliminary fall enrollment.  Dr. McBride said there are currently 16,831 students registered districtwide for the fall semester, down 5.2 percent from fall 2020.  Contact hours declined by 5.4 percent from last fall.

However, during the board’s meeting in August, Chancellor Dr. Mary Hensley told trustees to expect a decrease in enrollment between 10 and 20 percent.

Dr. McBride said there are multiple factors to take into account when considering Blinn’s enrollment figures.

 

Blinn registered 6,142 students on the Bryan Campus (down 9.78 percent from 2020), 4,258 in online classes (up 0.8 percent), 2,751 on the RELLIS Campus (unchanged), 1,823 on the Brenham Campus (down 7.3 percent), 1,593 in high school dual credit (down 8.1 percent), 68 on the Schulenburg Campus (down 33.1 percent), and 38 at the Sealy Campus (down 33 percent).

Dr. McBride said Blinn is not the only institution facing lower enrollment numbers.

 

When asked by Trustee Douglas Borchardt if the drop in enrollment is coming from any specific geographic area, Executive Vice Chancellor Leighton Schubert said over 70 percent of Blinn’s population comes from outside the district’s service area, adding that many of those students appear to be staying closer to home rather than go to a community college outside of their region.

Dr. McBride noted that enrollment is still open for 27 percent of classes for the fall semester, including Blinn’s 12-week, second 8-week, and second, third and fourth 4-week courses.

Fall housing numbers are at 75 percent occupancy compared to 81 percent in fall 2020, but there were fewer beds available for lease last fall due to COVID-19 protocols.  This fall, 1,266 of 1,675 beds have been leased, while 1,202 of 1,489 beds were leased in fall 2020.  Thirty beds are set aside for quarantine.

During her monthly report, Dr. Hensley said regular operations are completely underway for all campus activities, and the college plans to host an in-person commencement ceremony in December.  She also announced that Washington County EMS will host two vaccine clinics at the Brenham Campus Student Center.  The clinics will be held on Friday from noon to 3 p.m. and on Wednesday, September 29^th from 3 to 5 p.m.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, trustees authorized the College to:

• Negotiate and execute agreements related to the transfer of the real property encompassing the Star of the Republic Museum along with all improvements, buildings and fixtures to the Texas Historical Commission.
• Seek qualifications for engineering services related to a College Avenue street and sidewalk realignment project on the Brenham Campus. The project covers a three-block realignment of College Avenue from Green Street to Blinn Boulevard.  The budget for the project is $1.09 million, and it is expected to complete in fall 2022.
• Award a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for repairs to the Old Main Building on the Brenham Campus. Project Director Mark Feldhake said due to additional requirements discovered during the design, along with increased labor and material costs, the GMP for the HVAC portion of the project exceeded the budget by $177,000.  The total project budget included $1.6 million for HVAC improvements, which are covered through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), and $2 million for additional upgrades using Blinn’s unrestricted cash.  Construction is expected for major completion by March.
• Seek proposals for furniture, fixtures and equipment for the Old Main Building.
• Negotiate the sale of 95 acres at Leonard Road and FM 2818 to Bryan ISD. Blinn purchased the site in 2015 to develop a second Brazos County Campus, but was later invited by The Texas A&M University System to join the RELLIS Academic Alliance on the RELLIS Campus.
• Seek architectural services related to a new administration building on the Bryan Campus.
• Seek qualifications for engineering services related to a chiller replacement and building automation upgrades on the Bryan Campus.