With two months before summer classes begin, Butler County Community College is already seeing an increase in the number of course credits students are taking.

The 3.67% increase in credits over last summer is largely due to online classes, BC3 President Nick Neupauer told the board of trustees Wednesday.

“It's a good sign. We still have two months before classes start,” Neupauer said.

He said the college has added 21 online and hybrid classes over the past two years.

The number of students taking classes online have been bright spots on recent enrollment reports.

Enrollment in the ongoing spring semester is 2,500, which is down 12.9% from 2,872 in spring 2020. The number of credits decreased 14.6% to 21,953 from 25,722.

However, 1,099 students took at least one class online compared to 963 in spring 2020, a 14.1% increase.

The fall 2020 semester saw a 6.2% decline in enrollment and an 11.4% drop in credits from fall 2019, but online enrollment increased from 876 to 1,088, a 24.2% improvement.

Officials said students have not been taking as many credits per semester as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, Neupauer said the maximum federal Pell grant award will increase to $6,495 for the 2021-22 award year from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, and Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency grants will increase to $2,900.

In other business, the trustees unanimously voted to grant tenure to three instructors in the nursing and allied health program. They are Melissa Griffie, Kristine Kenny and Jessica Lasanich.