Butler County Community College will teach 83% of its 730 credit courses in-person during the fall semester, which begins Aug. 23.

BC3 President Nick Neupauer on Wednesday announced plans for the fall during a virtual board of trustees meeting.

A lot of students are expected to enroll in the remaining classes that will be taught online or remotely, he said.

“That's the new normal,” Neupauer said.

Fourteen percent of the classes have been scheduled in an online format and 3% in a remote format.

The spring 2020 semester began with 86% of credit classes face-to-face, but all classes were changed to remote in mid-semester, and summer 2020 classes were conducted through distance education formats due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fall 2021 classes held face-to-face will follow COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.

The fall semester includes a 15-week session that begins Aug. 23, a 10-week session that starts Sept. 20 and five-week online-only Fast Tracks that will begin Aug. 23, Sept. 27 and Nov. 1.

Online courses are delivered only online and at any time. Remote courses include video conferencing, email and internet-based learning management system formats and are held at a specific time.

Tuition and fees for students from Butler County are expected to cost $175 per credit, or $280 per credit for face-to-face courses for BC3 students from other Pennsylvania counties.

All students will be charged an additional $25 per credit for an online or remote course. A lab fee of $35 will be charged for certain courses.

BC3's trustees will adopt final rates by June 30.

In financial business, the college is using $700,000 in grant money from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act to fill most of the loss in fall semester revenue.

Fall semester revenue fell by $729,999 from fall 2019 to fall 2020 due to a decline in enrollment, and the college is using the CRRSAA money as unrestricted revenue to fill the shortfall, said James Hrabosky, vice president of administration and finance,

“It solves a budget hole,” Hrabosky said.

Without the CRRSAA money, the college would have had to find a way to balance the budget.

“It would have been a different year from an operating perspective,” he said.

Fall 2020 revenue totaled slightly more than $6 million and fall 2019 revenue was $6.7 million. Most of the losses were in tuition and student fees.

The decline in enrollment and the planned 2023 opening of the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building has led the college to conduct a space utilization study of the main campus in Butler Township.

Neupauer called the study a “deeper dive” into the future needs of the college and community.

The study will look at possible uses of the space currently used for the nursing program that will be vacant after the Phillips building opens and classrooms that might not be needed due to lower enrollment, he said.

All building on campus, enrollment numbers and the number of class sessions held will be reviewed in the study, said Brian Opitz, executive director of operations.

The workforce development program works with the STEM program, so their locations on campus will be looked at in the study, he said.

The study will result in a campus reconfiguring plan that will be part of the next campus master plan, Opitz said.

Neupauer said the master plan expires next year.

He said Stantec will work as a consultant in the study.

In personnel business, the trustees approved promotions from assistant professor to associate professor for Les Graves, Erika Nail and Lorri Shuber, and promotions from associate professor to professor for Mike Dittman, Deborah Kane and Kevin Ruediger. The board also approved tenure for Ramin Hajave.