Members of the Flint Hills Technical College board of trustees got a welcome piece of news at their meeting on Monday — enrollment numbers are looking good for next fall.
According to Lisa Kirmer, dean of student services for the tech college, full time equivalent, or FTE, enrollment for fall 2009 stands at 266 students. Funding for services is based on the number of FTE students enrolled in the school.
Last year, that number was not reached until June.
“So we’re really a month ahead of where we were last year,” Kirmer said.
In addition to the jump in enrollment numbers, Kirmer said two programs — dental hygiene and dental assisting — are already full for next fall’s term.
“We’ve got a lot of good news,” said tech college president Dean Hollenbeck. “I guess our enrollment is huge.”
Kirmer also reviewed a report of performance agreements, a list of goals the school has been striving to meet in a number of categories, including the number of students successfully completing online courses, number of students enrolled in classes offered at nontraditional times and number of students successfully completing a tutoring program.
There was only one category in which the school did not meet its goals — the number of students successfully completing prerequisite math courses with a grade of C or better.
“In all other categories, we completely met or exceeded the goals,” Kirmer said.
Board members also heard a presentation on the industrial engineering technology program from instructor David Budke.
Budke pointed out several highlights of the program, including the formation of a partnership with Don Kocher of Hill’s Pet Nutrition; the program’s membership in the Allen-Bradley Educational Alliance, which provides a 70 percent reduction in price for equipment; and the addition of a scholarship for the program donated by Tom Stebbins.
Board chair Brad Kraft asked whether student fees make up for supplies needed for the program.
“Not as far as buying new equipment,” Budke replied. “We could raise fees, but then you get into, ‘Are you charging too much?’ and people are turning away because of price.”