BTC has been providing skills-focused education to thousands of local and regional students since 1957. BTC is located in beautiful Bellingham, Washington, about 90 miles north of Seattle, and 60 miles south of Vancouver, BC.

1911

The first Industrial School is planned and built by the Bellingham School District. It evolved into a manual-training section of Whatcom High School.

1917

Courses in automotive mechanics and machine shop were offered at Fairhaven High School.

1940

With World War II looming, evening classes are established. Over 4,000 people received industry training during the war.

1952

Realizing that vocational programming was not serving the community’s needs, planners began work on what will become the present BTC.

1957

Bellingham Vocational Technical Institute is established on the current 32-acre site, a former truck farm. BVTI is operated by the Bellingham School District.

1991

Bellingham Vocational Technical Institute is renamed Bellingham Technical College. State legislative action designates BTC as a member of the Washington State Community and Technical College system.

2011

BTC becomes a member institution of Achieving the Dream, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping students—particularly low-income and students of color—stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree.

Current

BTC’s campus currently encompasses 32 acres (including the Marine Drive Annex).

Faculty & Employees

64 Full-Time Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty (50) and Regular Part-Time Faculty (14) Fall 2020

73 Adjunct Part-Time Faculty Fall 2020

116 Employees Fall 2020

Achievements

Accredited By: Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities

66% Workforce; 25% Academic; 5% Basic Skills; 4% Pre-College - Program Mix State Supported 2019-20

38 Associate of Applied Science (AAS) and AAS-Transfer (AAS-T) Degree Programs 2019-20

3 Direct Transfer Degrees (DTA/MRP) Programs 2019-20

50 Certificate Programs 2019-20

2 Bachelors of Science Degree Programs 2019-20

324 Business and Industry Representatives Serving on BTC’s Program Advisory Committees 2019-20

The following dashboard includes enrollment trends (broken down by demographic) and student achievement metrics, including retention, progress, completion, and job placement.

External benchmarking is an important aspect of examining institutional performance. BTC uses a number of dashboards provided by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to use for external benchmarking. These dashboards encompass metrics such as enrollment, student progress and completion, and post-college outcomes. Using these dashboards, BTC can see how our performance compares to the other Washington State community and technical colleges.

The following are a list of public-facing SBCTC dashboards most frequently used for external benchmarking:

• Enrollment: Student headcounts and full-time equivalents (FTEs), on a quarterly and annual level. Includes demographic breakdowns.

• Faculty and Staff: Faculty and staff headcounts and full-time equivalents (FTEs), on a quarterly and annual level. Includes demographic breakdowns.

• Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) 3.0: SAI is the points-based performance funding system for Washington State's community and technical colleges. Colleges receive points when students reach key academic momentum points, such as first 15 credits, college math, and completion. A complementary SBCTC dashboard, the Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) 3.0 Points by Students Groups, includes the SAI point totals by student groups such as Basic Skills, Running Start, Workforce Funding programs, and Pell grant recipients.

• Perkins V: BTC receives funding under the Carl D. Perkins Act, which requires the college to disaggregate student data by subgroup, special population, and program area for the three performance indicators. Though not all colleges can be viewed at once using this dashboard, BTC compares metrics with the other Washington State technical colleges in particular.

• Credentials Awarded: Student awards broken down by high school credential/GED certificate, workforce certificates, and degrees.

• After College Status: Professional-Technical Programs and Apprenticeships: A large portion of BTC's students plan to enter the workforce after earning their BTC credential. As a result, job placement and job salary data are very important to BTC. This dashboard shows the rate students go on to be employed or transfer to other non-community and technical colleges, and allows BTC to compare itself to the system rate.

Financial Aid

$3.0 million Total Total Financial Aid Loans Disbursed in 2019-20

$9.7 million Total Financial Aid Grants Disbursed in 2019-20

$12.7 Million Total Financial Aid Awards Disbursed in 2019-20

5,237 Total Individual Financial Aid Awards Granted 2019-20

282 Total Number of Student Scholarships Awarded in 2019-20

103 Named Annual Scholarships Distributed in 2019-20

47 Endowed Scholarships Distributed in 2019-20

$380,000 Total Scholarship Monies Awarded in 2019-20

Revenues and Expenditures

$14.4 Million Total State Operating Appropriation (excluding financial aid) Received in 2019-20

$8.3 Million Total Tuition and Fee Revenue (excluding services and activities/building fees) Received in 2019-20

$4.7 Million Total Federal, State & Local Grants and Contracts Revenue (excluding financial aid) Received in 2019-20

$1.8 Million Total Enterprise Revenue Received in 2019-20

$29.2 Million Total College Revenue (excluding student aid & capital pass-thru funds) Received in 2019-20

Expenditure Mix 2018-19:

• Instruction 53%
• Plant Operation/Maint. 11%
• Student Services 11%
• Institutional Support 16%
• Academic Support 7%
• Instructional Resources 2%