HCC Coleman College Sets Record Enrollment

Since its founding in 2004, HCC Coleman College for Health Sciences has increased its student population every year, this fall setting another enrollment record. In a facility designed to house 1,600 students, fall 2009 enrollment for HCC Coleman now exceeds 2,500 students across 19 individually-accredited health science programs. The greatest level of growth has been since 2006, with enrollment increasing 40 percent over the past three years. This record growth is despite the transition of the Emergency Medical Services program from HCC Coleman College to the Public Safety Institute at Northeast College in 2007.

“I am so proud of our department chairs, our faculty and Interim Executive Dean Michael Edwards and his team for all of their efforts that have permitted us to reach this new enrollment record,” said Dr. Betty Young, president of HCC Coleman College.

“We are going to build on this success and continue growing HCC Coleman College to help meet the demand for health care professionals in the Texas Medical Center and throughout southeast Texas — our community of employers and citizens seeking great jobs needs us.”

HCC Coleman, the only community college located in the Texas Medical Center, will be expanding nursing programs to add 100 additional nursing students each year for the next five years, doubling the size of the existing vocational nursing and registered nursing programs. By 2014, HCC Coleman College will have one of the largest nursing programs of any college or university in the nation; it already is one of the largest in Texas.

“Even with this exponential growth, we will merely scratch the surface of the incredible need that currently exists for nurses, and the even greater need we are going to face as a region in the coming years,” Young said.

“The Texas Medical Center projects more than 3,350 additional nurses will be needed by 2014, in addition to positions that would normally be required through retirement and transfer or promotion.”

However, the college is expanding in more ways than one — all 19 programs met or exceeded their capacity goals for the fall — including Pharmacy Technician, which is moving into a 10,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility at the John P. McGovern Campus within the Texas Medical Center. Additionally, the college is adding the twentieth health science program next year in Dental Hygiene, which will complement the existing Dental Assisting program.

“This is a very exciting time to be at HCC Coleman College, whether you are a student, a faculty member, an administrator, and especially the president,” Young said. “I couldn’t be any more pleased with our progress and am thrilled just thinking about our future.”