By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
While online classes begin as early as this weekend, the fall semester for Barton Community College begins on Wednesday, Aug. 21. Getting a feel for the Great Bend campus, as of last week, 392 of the 442 beds were assigned in the dormitories, with several more “spoken for.”
Barton Vice President of Student Services Angie Maddy said there are 11 special circumstance vacancies for single rooms.
"There are considerations when students truly have requests that meet certain requirements to have a single room," said Maddy. "These are not rooms where they pay to have a single room if we have space available. These are used under certain criteria because otherwise we are overwhelmed with requests for those single rooms."
While soccer and volleyball students have already been on campus for the past couple of weeks in preparation of their sports season, local churches and community members have been providing the students meals with the cafeteria closed.
New student orientation will be held Monday and Tuesday with plenty of “welcome week” activities planned such as a picnic and movie night.
Maddy said enrollment numbers for the fall semester are trending in the right direction, similar to the increased enrollment the college saw this summer.
"I didn't get these numbers exact, but over 2023, our enrollment this summer was up 24%," said Maddy. "Over 2022, we were up 45% in credit hours for summer. When we look at that strong enrollment...I'm not saying we'll be at similar numbers, but we can certainly hope and it is trending up right now."
Barton’s admissions department anticipates approximately 92 new international students this year on campus, and 65 returning international students.