OWINGS MILLS Md. — The Community College of Baltimore County is opening a new extension center in Owings Mills.
The new 120,000-square-foot space at Metro Centre opened Monday about a mile from the existing extension center. Classes are set to begin July 8.
CCBC has three campuses in Dundalk, Essex and Catonsville and other extension centers, including Owings Mills and Hunt Valley. Last year, CCBC enrolled 17,376 students in credit and non-credit courses, the highest enrollment in the state’s community college system. The new extension center in a building shared with the county library will serve nearly 11,000 students.
“We look at this as a way to bring more, more, more educational opportunities to the people,” CCBC President Sandra Kurtinitis tells The Daily Record of Baltimore. “Enrollment in the Owings Mills area is beyond the capacity of our current Owings Mills extension center.”
Students will be able to complete a two-year associate’s degree at the new location, which has 17 classrooms, 12 computer labs and art and hospitality lab space. That was not an option at the existing center because of limited class offerings.
The county funded $29 million of the construction costs for the combined community college and library building that is located on a former parking lot for the Metro, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said.
CCBC officials said Monday they had waited for a new campus for years.
Judge Barbara K. Howe, chairwoman of the 15-member CCBC Board of Trustees, said: “For many years, a number of us wondered if we would ever be here at all.”
