Flint Hills Technical College hits record enrollment with 493 students
By Scott Rochat
Monday, August 13, 2007
Flint Hills Technical College reported its highest-ever enrollment Monday and may further swell its ranks in the next couple of years with three new programs.
Dean of Students Lisa Kirmer said Monday that 493 students had signed up for the fall semester. Because a large number of part-time students attend, the state counts that as an enrollment of 383 students for funding purposes — which is still a record.
“The fall of 2002 up to this point was our highest head count and FTE (full-time equivalent) in history and we’ve kind of blown it out of the water,” Kirmer said.
In 2002, the college had a head count of 436 and an FTE of 332 for funding purposes.
One of the largest gains came from the power plant technology program, which nearly doubled its enrollment from 13 students last year to 25 students now. Kirmer and others credited instructor Merlin Williams’ constant efforts to promote the program. Williams meanwhile said it helped that the program was now available in morning, afternoon and night classes and that the industry need was so great.
“Wolf Creek is still in a holding pattern, but Westar is looking at its needs as its employees hit retirement,” Williams said. “And there’s 15 to 18 new nuclear plants across the United States, mostly on the East Coast and in the South.”
The emergency medical technician program also exploded, from six students to 20. Both Kirmer and EMT instructor Barb Evans said there’s been more attention statewide to EMT and paramedic programs as the need for those workers becomes greater. The college recently opened a paramedic program in Clay Center.
Only three programs at the technical college saw a decline this year. Commercial art fell from 16 students to six because the program is being phased out — old students are finishing up their training and new ones aren’t being solicited. Hospitality and culinary arts saw a slight dip from 13 students to 11 as the program adjusted to some schedule changes. And automotive technology dropped from 54 students to 43, a falloff that Kirmer said was due to changes in high-school graduation requirements that made it difficult for high-school juniors to spend time at the college.
“We have very, very few juniors enrolled this year,” she said. “Automotive is very typically heavy in high-school juniors and seniors, so they were going to be hit pretty hard.”
In addition to the growth in students, the college will also soon see a growth in programs. Later this semester, Flint Hills will begin a new welding program at its annex near Sauder Custom Fabrication. A dental hygiene program is slated to start next summer. And the college recently sent out a statewide survey, exploring the need for a dispatcher and jailer program. If everything clicks, that last program could begin to take students in 2009.
In addition, the college plans to re-introduce its trucking program in the near future, through a partnership with Keim Trucking of Sabetha.
The growth pleased college President Dean Hollenbeck — but he still wants more.
“Three or four weeks ago, I told everyone I wanted 500 students,” Hollenbeck told the school’s board of trustees. “After it looked like we got there, I said ‘Maybe I didn’t set that bar high enough — it should be 1,000.”
“But not this year,” Kirmer said as the trustees chuckled.