BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees got another round of good news about enrollment at colleges across the state during its Wednesday meeting at Drake State Community and Technical College in Huntsville.
“We have finally exceeded the 98,000 mark for students this fall,” Vice Chancellor Neil Scott told trustees. “That is a 9.6% increase over the final fall ‘24 number. That equates to over 8,500 additional students and 23 of our 24 colleges are ahead of their final fall ‘24 number.
The ACCS enrollment update shared at the Oct. 8, 2025, Board of Trustees meeting in Huntsville, Ala. (ACCS)
“This is incredible,” he continued. “A lot of credit needs to go to our colleges, our presidents, their faculty and staff, because the work that is happening for me to be able to report this every month is coming directly from these colleges.”
Drake State President Patricia Sims welcomed the board to the Leidos Advanced Training Complex, which opened in April. It houses training programs in precision machining and welding among others as well as instructional areas.
The board heard from Priscilla Soto, a Drake State student. Soto says the college changed the course of her family’s life. After moving to Madison in 2019, she planned to start college but put it off when transcript issues got in the way. A few years later, with encouragement from the college’s veteran and military affairs coordinator Neoka Hambrick, she enrolled and is now in her third semester studying business accounting.
Her husband, Gabriel, a former Army Black Hawk mechanic and crew chief, took classes at Drake before landing a job with Blue Origin, and their son Damian graduated from the automotive program in May with a paid internship at the same company. Their youngest son, a high school freshman, plans to dual enroll in welding classes next year.
“So today, as I stand here, I can say that Drake State has become so much more than a college for us, it has become part of our family story,” Soto said. “Drake State holds a special place, and I truly believe because of this college our family’s future will be brighter for generations to come.”
The audience gave the family a standing ovation.
In regular business, the board approved revising a policy requiring certain administrative and executive management personnel to be employed on a contract basis as required by a 2024 state law.
The board also renewed an agreement with Barnes & Noble Booksellers to operate a bookstore on the Southern Union State Community College campus for a five-year period beginning this year and ending July 31, 2030. In his request to the board, President Todd Shackett said the campus earned a commission of $814,800 during the previous five-year contract.
The board also approved a $5,000 per month expenditure to operate an additional instructional site at the Southern Way Properties Office Complex in Mobile for the LPN program at Bishop State Community College.
The board authorized more than $50 million in spending to build or renovate multiple academic and athletic facilities as well as build a new student center and repair multiple roofs. Funding came from multiple sources including bond issues, legislative appropriations and funding from local colleges:
- Coastal Alabama Community College – Renovations to Atmore Campus building for Rural Healthcare Centralized Training – $2.7 million;
- Shelton State Community College – Replace natural grass on the Martin Campus softball field with artificial grass – $704,000;
- Calhoun Community College – Construction and renovation of the Huntsville campus Sparkman Building restrooms and corridor – $836,000;
- Calhoun Community College – Construction of a new student center at the Decatur campus – $19.3 million;
- Calhoun Community College – Purchase of property for the Decatur Campus at a cost of $1.2 million;
- Bevill State Community College – Mechanical and engineering Construction of an addition for the HVAC training center on the Jasper campus – $13.8 million;
- Lawson State Community College – Renovation of the Birmingham campus tennis courts – $897,000;
- Lurleen B. Wallace Community College – Addition and renovation of the Seth Hammett Gymnasium at the Andalusia Campus – $7.6 million;
- Southern Union State Community College – Roofing and exterior waterproofing of the Higginbotham Academic Center on the Opelika Campus – $1.6 million;
- Southern Union State Community College – Roofing and exterior waterproofing of the Health Sciences building on the Opelika Campus – $1.4 million.
The next board meeting will be a joint meeting between the Alabama State Board of Education and the ACCS trustees on Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. in Montgomery.
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