Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, the Blinn College District had registered 17,724 students for Fall 2020 terms with a variety of late-term 4-, 8-, and 12-week courses still available for registration, Vice Chancellor for Administration Karen Buck told trustees at Tuesday’s board meeting.

The enrollment total represents a 10.4% decrease from the 19,776 registered at this point in 2019.

Blinn’s Fall 2020 enrollment as of Wednesday, Sept. 9, includes a 69.8% increase in online enrollment with 4,223 students. RELLIS Campus enrollment also increased 6.5% with 2,751 students.

Enrollment to date also includes 1,961 students on the Brenham Campus, 6,774 students on the Bryan Campus, 95 students on the Schulenburg Campus, and 53 students on the Sealy Campus.

This year, Blinn is offering a wider array of shorter Fall semester terms, including:

  • second 4-week courses that begin Monday, Sept. 21;
  • 12-week courses that begin Wednesday, Sept. 23;
  • second 8-week courses that begin Monday, Oct. 19;
  • third 4-week courses that begin Monday, Oct. 19;
  • and fourth 4-week courses that begin Monday, Nov. 16.

Registration remains open for each term prior to the first day of class. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu/fall.

In other business, the board authorized the College to negotiate and execute a ground lease and cooperation agreement with NCCD-Brenham Properties, LLC, and any additional documents related to the financing, design, construction, and operation of additional student housing on the Brenham Campus.

In January, the board authorized a new student housing facility that would follow the same public-private partnership model used to construct Mill Creek Hall, a 464-bed residence hall that opened to full capacity for the Fall 2018 semester. Through the public-private partnership, the new residence hall will be developed on Blinn property but constructed and managed by a private partner. Through this collaboration, Blinn can increase its student housing capacity without funding the facility’s construction.

Plans for the project call for two separate buildings, with one designed to accommodate 320 beds and the other to hold 184 beds. The complex is scheduled to open for students in time for the Fall 2022 semester.

The board also authorized the College to negotiate and execute a contract with PlanNorth Architectural Company for services related to upgrades to Leroy Dreyer Field on the Brenham Campus.