Frederick Community College Facilities Master Plan Chapter 4 Needs Assessment 4-60 May 12, 2023 Welcome and Admissions There is a need for a strategically located Welcome/Admissions Center. Frederick Community College does not have a facility that truly welcomes people to its campus. There is no warm and accessible official front door for visitors and potential students and their families. In addition to making a grand statement as a dynamic first point of entry to a campus, welcome centers have shown to have a memorable impact on students, prospective students, alumni and visitors. College welcome centers mix aspiration and nostalgia. By offering a lasting first impression, a welcome and admissions center can be an effective vehicle for recruiting and retraining students, brand promoting, being responsive to community and regional needs, alumni, and business partners. Student Services Activities Contemporary spatial layouts are needed to overcome qualitative issues resulting from the absence of adequate environments for modernday student activities functions. Commuter students use student centers or student commons as a home away from home, especially when they have classes spaced out during the day. There is generally insufficient and inadequate student lounge space, meeting space, recreational areas, and student organization space. Students complain that there are insufficient and inadequate places for them to really hang out. There is a need for student areas that are more inviting for enjoyment, relaxation, individual study and group learning. Food facilities are insufficiently sized to effectively serve the needs of FCC’s students, faculty and staff. Total campus food facilities are currently, and will be in 2030, less than allowed under Maryland’s Guidelines for community college food facilities. As a primary student activities component of Frederick Community College, the Student Center has extremely limited access to formally designated space allocations that meet the need to serve as the primary focal point for student-related activities. Existing design functions of the building are inconsistent with contemporary student activities environments. The layout is challenging due to quantity and quality of space being inadequate and insufficient for the needs of students. Current and future enrollments dictate an impelling requirement for the availability of student campus life activities, which can be translated into needs for lounge and leisure spaces. Coupled with a campus-wide need is the need to offer such features to future students at their initial interface with FCC. The absence of such facilities mitigates the building’s quality of life by not providing space for informal social interchange and/or respite. Surge Space The availability of surge or swing space is so critical when the College plans to renovate existing facilities. There is an ongoing compelling need at Frederick Community College for space to temporarily house academic or administrative units that are displaced because of renovations to their home buildings.
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