PENDLETON — Blue Mountain Community College’s enrollment heading into the fall semester is up 2.5%, said BMCC Director of Marketing and Communications Kaley Cope.

“Enrollment is going good,” she said. “We won’t have a definite number until October once classes have started and students make schedule changes, but for now, the growth is another step in the right direction.”

The increase in enrollment continues a trend of recovery that began in 2022 as the coronavirus pandemic and its coinciding regulations subsided, Cope said, and indicates BMCC is fulfilling its core mission.

“An increase like that means more tuition, which is good for the school,” Cope said. “It speaks to a larger commitment to our mission to serve the community and help students find academic success.”

Part of drumming up enrollment numbers is the college’s effort to host “registration events,” in which students can visit the school and find a “one-stop shop” for enrollment, BMCC Director of Recruitment and Retention Joey GrosJacques said.

“Our enrollment events, we offer them every term, and they’ve become very consistent,” GrosJacques said. “We have students come up and take placement tests, get registered, get financial aid — any service they need, we try to have available at the event.”

The goal is to streamline the process for prospective students, GrosJacques said, by identifying where any student may get stuck in the process of registering for school and placing them directly in front of a resource that can help them bypass any obstacles, whether academic, financial, or personal.

“We can help from start to finish, or help in any particular area,” GrosJacques said. “Our navigators help with advising, our enrollment services offers placement testing and student account stuff, including payment. Then financial aide is also present. All of these departments are open regular hours, but when you start advertising special events, we see more traffic, even though you could walk in anytime.”

Another benefit to the registration events is the presence of faculty, who despite being out of contract in the Summer still coordinate with the Office of Instruction to be present at registration events to assist with advising and answer any questions students may have.

On Wednesday, Aug. 30, Blue Mountain was hosting one of its registration events in the Morrow Hall Welcome Center. BMCC regularly hosts registration events at its Pendleton and Hermiston campuses with announcements through email, text messages and on BMCC’s website.

“It’s been busy today, but that tends to happen as we approach the school year,” GrosJacques said. “I feel like once k-12 schools go back, its a trigger and everyone goes to get registered, so that’s why we are having an influx now.”