Blinn trustees adopt FY 2024 budget, authorize guaranteed maximum price on Bryan Campus Administration Building

Board receives report reflecting spring, May minimester, and summer I enrollment increases

June 20, 2023

The Blinn College District Board of Trustees approved a $126.5 million budget for Fiscal Year 2024 during its regular meeting on Tuesday.

The budget, which represents a 4% increase over the previous year, includes a 6% salary increase for full-time employees making below $170,000 and a 5% salary increase for those above that figure. The budget also includes a full-time faculty entry-level salary increase from $45,000 to $52,000, a $25 per course increase in part-time faculty pay, and $400 in longevity pay for full-time faculty.

In other business, the board authorized the College to negotiate and execute a guaranteed maximum price of $27.18 million for the construction of the Bryan Campus Administration Building. The project is budgeted for $30.95 million and includes the two-story, $46,000-square-foot Administration Building at the intersection of Villa Maria Road and Nash Street. The new facility will include a student lobby; enrollment services; prospective student relations; offices for academic advising, administration, business services, dual credit, financial aid, human resources, police, and the registrar; and meeting rooms.

Site amenities include a new campus entrance, monument sign, circle entry drive with visitor parking, staff and visitor parking, road and sidewalk connections to the rest of campus, and an intramural field. Construction is anticipated to begin in August and is scheduled for occupancy in the spring of 2025.

Trustees also heard a report from Vice Chancellor for Student Services Dr. Becky McBride detailing enrollment increases for the recent spring, May minimester, and summer terms. For the spring, Blinn enrolled 15,685 students, a 3.36% increase over 2022 and its highest spring figure since the 2020 pandemic.

The spring enrollment included 4,072 online students, 1,579 Brenham Campus students, 5,407 Bryan Campus students, 2,497 RELLIS Campus students, 44 Schulenburg Campus students, 23 Sealy Campus students, and 1,892 high school dual-credit students.

McBride also shared a preliminary May minimester enrollment of 1,116 students, a 13.79% increase over 2022, and a preliminary summer I enrollment of 5,648 students, an 11.36% increase over the previous year.

In other business, the board accepted an audit report regarding revenue and grant management and authorized the College to negotiate and execute a contract for street and sidewalk realignment on College Avenue on the Brenham Campus.