A new campus center in Plainview and spring enrollment were among the main topics of discussion during the February meeting of the South Plains College Board of Regents.

Coda Stephenson, an architect with BGR Architect and Engineers, presented the floor plans for the newest addition to the SPC family.  It will be located at 1920 W. 24^th St. in Plainview.

The new center is projected to cover an area of approximately 50,200 square feet.  The members of the Board were shown a layout of about half of the new center.  This center will contain rooms for a cosmetology program, a nursing program, computers, ITV classes and staff/faculty offices.

“This center will be staffed with a director and a few faculty members, but in the beginning there will be a total of about six or seven employees there in the center,” said South Plains College President Dr. Kelvin Sharp.

This sounds like a small number of students for a new college center, but it will take time for the new center to grow, according to Dr. Sharp 

“This fall we are only expecting to get only about 150 to 200 students,” said Dr.  Sharp, “depending on what kind of courses we will offer at the center.”

Dr. Sharp believes that this new center will get more young people in the Plainview community interested in coming to college.  This also will help improve the falling numbers in SPC enrollment, he said.

Although the college has experienced an all-time high in enrollment during the past few years, it is beginning to level off.  David Jones, vice president of student affairs, reported to the Board that total enrollment for the main SPC campus and all of its branches is down by about 330 students. 

The main SPC campus is down one student from 5,396 last spring to 5,395 this semester, and the Reese Center is down from 3,749 to 3,599 students.  The totals from the past two years are 10,950 for the spring of 2004 and 10,621 for this spring semester.

This “leveling off” is due to the rise in college costs, all of the graduating students, the current economy and students who are interested in Texas Tech University. 

“I believe enrollment is still very healthy,” said Jones. “This slight fluctuation is only due to economic reasons beyond our control.”

Jones told the Board that SPC was not the only college in the area that has been affected by these factors.  Many other colleges in the area have sustained the same drop in enrollment also, he said

“We are starting to feel, and see, the impact of raising the tuition and costs here at the college,” said Dr. Sharp.

Jones also informed the Board of some great news.  Contact hours at the college were up 4 percent since last year, despite the loss of students.  Jones also added that the contact hours are also up a whopping 20 percent over the past few years. 

This means that even though SPC has fewer students, more hours are being taken.  Jones said students are trying to get done with their degrees much faster than the average time normally taken.  These extra hours that the students are taking are helping to make up for the slight decline in enrollment.

Despite the enrollment drop, Sharp still remains confident that the college will make a strong rebound during the next few years.

“I expect to get back into the swing of high enrollment within the next year possibly,” said Dr. Sharp. 

With the addition of the new center in Plainview, Dr. Sharp and Jones are expecting enrollment to hit another high point.  It should get more students enrolled there, and it is possible that they will become interested in coming to the main SPC campus later on to complete other courses.

“We should get a good jump in enrollment from the Plainview Center, because there is a great demand in their community for our educational resources,” said Jones.

Bids for construction of the new center will be opened on March 17.  As soon as a bid is chosen, construction will begin.  The projected completion date is dependent upon when the construction will start. 

The center should be open and ready to hold classes during the fall semester, according to Dr. Sharp.  If some rooms are not completed before the start of the fall semester, classes will be held in a designated area in Plainview until construction is finished.

“We are looking forward to offering our services to the Plainview community,” said Dr. Sharp.

In other action, the Board discussed revisions to the Board of Regents Policy Manual, reviewed financial updates and grant reports, discussed Tech Prep opportunities for the college, and listened to the President’s report.