by Kelsey Rowlson
Horizon Reporter
What do you know about Whatcom Community College? Not just the basic information, but the nitty gritty stuff; from the number of parking spaces at Whatcom, to the amount Whatcom pays for the electricity each year, to the number of graduates during the 2009-2010 school year, we’ve got the FYI on WCC.
Students
There are 4,201.5 full time equivalent students at Whatcom
7,644 total students attend Whatcom
At Whatcom there are 889 Running Start students
828 students graduated from Whatcom in 2009-2010
*770 of those received their Associate Degrees
The faculty to student ratio is 1:22
Whatcom has 140 international students from 30 countries
55 percent of Whatcom’s students are female, 45 percent are male
Employees
Whatcom has 402 faculty members
50 Work Study positions
10 full-time custodial employees
3 grounds crew employees
Parking
There are 1,881 parking spaces at Whatcom
*On the busiest day of the school year (first day of fall quarter) there were 80 extra parking spaces leftover
Crime
In the past 10 years (reported crime):
*1 stolen backpack
*50 car problems
*2 grand theft auto (cars were later found untouched in Whatcom’s parking lot)
*1 student was shot to death on Whatcom’s campus in 1995
2 people have been hit by cars in the crosswalk
The Bills
$19,700,000 is Whatcom’s annual operating budget
Electricity cost: $342,000/year
Natural Gas cost: $113,500/year
“What you pay in tuition is only about 1/2 the cost of teaching you.” –Ray White
Whatcom’s Land
Whatcom owns 70 acres of land
The total footage of Whatcom’s 10 buildings is 304,558 square feet
There is a total of 5 acres designated to wetlands on campus
Fun Facts
Every 15 years the soccer field has to be replaced due to the sunlight’s effect on the turf
There are 28 bathrooms located on Whatcom’s campus, 14 men’s and 14 women’s. This doesn’t count locker room bathrooms.
There are roughly 940 computers on campus
26 vending machines are located on campus
*19 of these vending machines have Orca card readers
