Photo by Shawn ArrajjAfter voters denied Lone Star College System a $497 million bond proposal in May 2013, LSCS officials still find themselves over the recommended capacity for class sizes set by the state of Texas at most campuses.
"We may not be at full capacity in all our programs, but we are there or quickly reaching it for the programs that are most in demand," said Ray Laughter, vice chancellor for external affairs with LSCS.
Several crucial elements of the bond package were carried out despite the bond's failure, Laughter said. Funding was secured through the revenue budget process to pay for safety and security upgrades, including upgrades to the messaging systems at each campus for emergency situations.
"That's the kind of infrastructure improvement I don't think anyone in the community would want us not to invest in," Laughter said.
Plans for the Creekside Center on the south side of The Woodlands are still moving forward. Land was purchased for this project with money from the 2008 bond election. Laughter said LSCS was up against a deadline to begin construction as a result of that purchase contract. The board approved a special revenue bond with money coming from facilities funds, which has no effect on tax rates.
Officials are also looking at building a parking deck behind the LSC–Fairbanks center to add 276 parking spaces, said Deana Sheppard, vice president of college centers with LSC–CyFair. The board approved the project in December and construction is expected to start in late spring.
"This will make up some of the spaces lost to Hwy. 290 construction," Sheppard said.
Enrollment numbers in the fall were fairly flat, but Laughter said they are still projecting future increases. Enrollment has increased by about 30,000 students in the past six years.
"We tried to be as efficient as we could in terms of getting more students into the facilities we have," Laughter said. "We increased our class size by about 20 percent, which is a big jump, but there's only so much you can do. We're ushering more students to online classes, or to the days or hours that aren't as jammed."
Laughter said the true impact of full classrooms on enrollment numbers can be hard to gauge.
At the CyFair campus—LSCS's largest and fastest-growing campus—the new Cypress Center has helped alleviate some of the overcrowding, but Laughter said more will need to be done eventually. LSC–CyFair was designed for 18,000 students, and enrollment for the spring is estimated to come in around 20,000. The Cypress Center can handle 3,200 students, and the two buildings proposed in the 2013 bond election would have added 150,000 square feet of classroom space.
LSCS officials will have a better idea of what the next step will be after studying spring 2014 enrollment, which is expected to be higher than fall numbers, Laughter said.
"We are not at the point yet where we are ready to move forward on a plan for the next bond election," he said. "One thing that is certain is things are changing, and we're going to grow. We'll see how spring enrollment goes, what has changed since the last [bond] election and what our priorities should be."
