Bunker Hill Community College Takes Extraordinary Measures To Deal with Explosive Enrollment Growth

Friday, September 4, 2009

Bunker Hill Community College President Mary Fifield called an emergency meeting of key staff yesterday when it became apparent that the College was at a breaking point due to the overwhelming student enrollments filling every available course.

In addition to the standard fall class schedule, the College added 108 new class sections over the summer to the schedule. As a result of yesterday’s meeting, 40 new classes were added within 24 hours. These 40 classes will begin on September 14, a week later than the start of the fall semester on September 8.

The College had projected an enrollment increase of seven percent for fall. “Today enrollment is up by 23 percent over last year and still climbing.  We just topped 10,000 students, the highest ever for BHCC,” Fifield said.  “We even have two new classes starting at midnight.  We are holding classes in the Schrafft’s Center, near the College.  Existing faculty are taking on more courses, and we are hiring new faculty as fast as we can locate instructors with appropriate qualifications and experience.” 

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About Bunker Hill Community College
Celebrating 50 years of excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is Massachusetts' largest community college, annually welcoming a diverse community of around 16,000 students. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC extends its reach across several locations in Greater Boston. BHCC is celebrated for its diversity, boasting a student body where 65% identify as people of color and more than half are women. The College also embraces a global perspective, with over 600 international students representing 90 countries and conversing in more than 65 languages. Our commitment to diversity is further reflected in BHCC's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).