Members of the Flint Hills Technical College board of trustees heard more good news at their regular meeting on Monday — the school’s enrollment for the fall semester continues to climb, surpassing last year’s numbers at this time.
As of Monday, the head count of students enrolled for the fall semester was 393, and the full-time equivalent, or FTE, stood at 350. The FTE is the number the school’s funding is based on. Last July 14, the tech college had a head count of 371 and FTE of 302.
“It’s good news again,” said Lisa Kirmer, dean of student services. “... We are up 22 head count and 48 full time equivalency, which is the more important number.”
If the trend continues, the school stands to beat last fall’s enrollment — a head count of 502 and an FTE of 406.
“Today we could hardly come up for air, it was just constant,” Kirmer said of the number of students who are rushing to get enrolled for the fall. “It should be that way pretty much through the next month.”
Many of the school’s programs already are full, and some programs may see the opening of additional sections, Kirmer said. Programs that have filled up include hospitality and culinary arts, business administrative technology, nursing, dental assisting and dental hygiene. The graphic arts program is almost full.
“And then there are some programs that aren’t completely full but have already exceeded last fall’s first day numbers,” Kirmer said.
President Dean Hollenbeck said the school will try to accommodate students even if the desired classes are full.
“If they come in, we’re going to try to help them,” he said.
School officials also heard good news recently regarding money for much-needed work on the buildings and grounds. The tech college will be getting some federal stimulus money to help take care of work that didn’t fit into the school’s budget.
Hollenbeck said the money will be disbursed by the Kansas Board of Regents, but he doesn’t yet know how much it will be or when the tech college will see it.
“I don’t know if the Board of Regents has got the money yet,” Hollenbeck said. “I don’t know when we’ll get it. We think we have a number but we’re not sure because it’s changing on a daily basis.”
The stimulus will be one-time money and can only be used either to keep tuition costs down or for renovations and repairs. Projects it might go toward include replacing doors that are rusting out, replacing HVAC units, expanding the school’s server room and repairing water leaks.
Board members also heard good news regarding the school’s financial reports — revenues are higher than expected, and expenses came in under budget.
“Nearly all of the (revenue) categories came in higher than what we had budgeted, with the exception of just a few,” said Nancy Thompson, director of accounting.
In total, the school’s revenues came in 3 percent higher than was projected.
“It took a lot of cooperation from everybody across the whole institution to make that work,” Hollenbeck said.