Western Texas College’s enrollment is up compared to last year, but the contact hours are down, the board of trustees learned during Monday night’s meeting.
Britt Canada, dean of institutional research and effectiveness, presented the fall enrollment report and said the reason for the lower contact hours is the fact that more dual-credit students are enrolled at the college.
The fall enrollment is 2,126 and the total contact hours are 287,632. The enrollment for the fall 2014 semester was 2,113 and the contact hours were 315,088. Canada said the college had 813 dual-credit students this semester, which is up from the 2014 total of 722.
A total of 1,499 of the 2,126 students are classified as part-time, which is an increase of 99 compared to the 2014 total of 1,400.
The college has 259 sophomore and 1,798 freshman students, according to the report.
The number of Scurry County students increased by three compared to 2014. This year, the college has 556 students enrolled that live in the county. Of those, 155 are taking advantage of the Opportunity Waiver program, meaning the college is paying $117,613 for their tuition and fees.
Nolan and Mitchell counties have the highest number of students, excluding Scurry County, enrolled from the service area. Nolan County has 229 students enrolled while Mitchell County has 209.
Also during Monday’s meeting, the board tabled action on a resolution to name a person to the ballot of the Scurry County Appraisal District board of directors. Patricia Claxton, chief financial officer, said the administration wanted to wait to see who the Snyder ISD board of trustees nominates for the election since the school district has the majority of votes in the election to replace Sam Robertson.
Claxton said the WTC board does not have to nominate the same person and the resolution will be presented during the November meeting.
The board also approved revisions to two policies covering employee and student welfare. In both cases, Sheila Williamson, the new human resources director, was added as the college’s Title IX coordinator.
Mike Thornton, chief operating officer, presented the infrastructure improvement project update. He said work is ongoing in several areas and only 400 feet of line remains to be placed along the new water loop.
Thornton also reported that the second phase of the renovations will begin soon with the health/physical education project to be completed first.
Following a closed session to discuss personnel, the board took no action.
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