There’s a delay in future flood control repairs at the Blinn College campus in Bryan. Administrators removed from the agenda of this week’s board of trustees meeting, a $640,000 dollar contract to clear out ponds and Briar Creek. The project is designed to reduce flooding in residential areas downstream from the campus. A spokesman says Blinn’s legal department wants to do some additional due diligence. It is not known if the contract will be ready for the trustees October meeting. The project has been requested by the city of Bryan twice this year.
Two other contracts affecting the Bryan campus were approved by trustees. Both could start as early as next month and be finished next February. One modifies the Bryan campus north access, which right now allows only southbound traffic on Villa Maria to make a right turn into the campus. The $666,000 project will allow traffic leaving the campus to make a right turn back on Villa Maria and prepare for a future left turn exit.
Click HERE to read and download background information on the landscaping and related improvements.
Trustees also named a construction manager for Blinn’s first academic building at Texas A&M’s RELLIS center.
Click HERE to read and download background information on the RELLIS CMAR contract.
In other business, trustees were told fall enrollment numbers at Blinn’s two largest locations are down from a year ago. Administrators reported the Bryan campus had 650 fewer students. But Blinn’s overall headcount is up by 52. That’s due to increases in Sealy, Schulenburg, A&M’s health science center, and more students in distance learning and dual credit programs. The total number of credit hours, which is how state funding is determined, is down one percent from last fall.
News releases from Blinn College:
The Blinn College Board of Trustees authorized administrators to move forward with approximately $1 million in improvements to the College’s Bryan Campus during its regular meeting held Tuesday, Sept. 20.
The board authorized Blinn administrators to award Dudley Construction, Ltd. a contract for improvements to the Blinn-Bryan Campus north entrance. The project will add a right turn exit to the existing entrance, helping to improve the flow of traffic off campus, and includes all related sidewalk construction, landscaping, storm drain, and site lighting required by the City of Bryan.
The project also includes improvements to existing landscapes around the parking lot and will allow for the construction of a short pipe fence to prevent illegal left turns onto Villa Maria Road.
The project is estimated to cost approximately $665,000 and will be funded from 2014 Washington County bond funds.
The board also authorized Blinn administrators to award and execute a contract with Dudley Construction for landscaping improvements on the Bryan campus. The project includes:
• landscaping and an upgraded sprinkler system near the Administration Building;
• landscaping and additional site lighting near the new parking lot behind the Modular 2 Building;
• improving the berms on the northwest side of the campus, including regrading the berms, upgrading the sprinkler system, and applying new soil and sod to the site;
• and making soil improvements to the campus courtyards to prevent bare spots where grass does not grow.
The project will be funded from 2014 Washington County bond funds and is estimated to cost $327,450.
In other action, the board authorized the College to award and execute a construction manager at risk contract with J.T. Vaughn Construction, LLC for construction at the RELLIS Campus. Blinn College and The Texas A&M System announced in May that Blinn would build a facility at the RELLIS Campus as part of the multi-institutional Gateway Education Center, which will provide space for Texas A&M System member institutions and Blinn to offer a variety of curricula. The campus establishes a new educational community combining a major university system and a community college as a single physical location, and will allow Blinn students to transfer seamlessly to leading universities throughout The Texas A&M System in the years to come.
The site also creates opportunities for Blinn to partner with other organizations and institutions located on the RELLIS Campus, including high-end, innovative, private research and development companies, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX).
Blinn’s Phase 1 RELLIS Campus academic building will accommodate approximately 2,500 students and is scheduled to open in 2018.
For more information regarding Blinn’s future at the RELLIS Campus, please visit: www.blinn.edu/expansion/RELLIS.html.
_______________________________________________________
For the ninth time in the last 10 years, Blinn College’s Fall enrollment has increased over the previous year.
Blinn registered 19,422 students for the Fall 2016 semester, a slight increase over the 19,370 who enrolled in Fall 2015. Blinn’s continued growth was fueled by enrollment increases in the College’s online and dual credit offerings, as well as on the Schulenburg and Sealy campuses.
Blinn experienced a 1 percent decrease in contact hours – the number of hours students spend with their instructors – to 3,592,208. The state funding formula incorporates contact hours rather than student enrollment.
Blinn’s enrollment figures include 1,485 students enrolled in the TEAM (Transfer Enrollment at A&M) Program, which allows qualified students to co-enroll at Blinn and Texas A&M University. Students who successfully complete the program earn automatic admission to Texas A&M.
The Texas A&M Engineering Academy at Blinn-Bryan, a co-enrollment program that allows talented students to pursue their engineering degree while enrolled at Texas A&M and Blinn, registered 560 students for Fall 2016. The Texas A&M Engineering Academy at Blinn-Brenham, which allows students to take Blinn and Texas A&M courses as part of a living and learning engineering community, expanded to 98 students in its second year.
Enrollment on the Schulenburg campus increased 29.6 percent to 162 students, and Sealy campus enrollment increased 22 percent to 133 students.
Enrollment on the Bryan campus decreased 2.7 percent to 12,338. Brenham campus enrollment dipped 1.5 percent to 2,376, but Brenham contact hours increased 0.7 percent to 566,848.
Dr. Dennis Crowson, Senior Vice President for Student Services, said he suspects the increase in students registering for dual credit or online courses is beginning to impact campus enrollment totals.
“Regardless of which option students choose, the important thing is that they continue to find the best fit for them among Blinn’s educational offerings,” he said. “Whether students enroll in dual credit or online courses, or choose one of our four campuses, our ultimate goal is to provide a comfortable, convenient platform for each student to succeed.”
Blinn currently is preparing for future growth with the development of new facilities in Bryan and Brenham. In May, the Blinn Board of Trustees accepted an invitation from The Texas A&M University System to partner at the RELLIS Campus as part of the multi-institutional Gateway Education Center. The new campus will establish a new educational community combining a major university system and a community college at a single physical location, and will allow Blinn students to transfer seamlessly to leading universities throughout The Texas A&M System in the years to come.
Blinn’s board also has approved a new student housing facility for the Brenham campus that will accommodate 465 students. The Blinn-Brenham campus currently houses 1,326 students, more than any other community college in the state. Despite this, approximately 925 students were placed on the housing waiting list this summer. The addition of 465 students would generate approximately $3 million in annual revenue.
Located at the corner of Saeger Street and Old Mill Creek Road, the project will be funded by National Campus and Community Development (NCCD)-Blinn College Properties, LLC, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established to provide tax-exempt financing specifically for this project.
Registration for Fall eight-week courses is available through Wednesday, Oct. 19.