By Laura Katauskas
Staff Reporter
Students of the Joliet Junior College campus walked into new territory to start off the fall semester: new spaces, new offerings, and more opportunity on the Romeoville campus.
The Joliet Junior College Romeoville Campus expansion opened for fall classes on Monday, Aug. 21.
The new building, the first major construction on the college’s Romeoville Campus since it opened in 1993, adds more than 49,000 square-feet to the campus. Since its inception, Romeoville has seen an explosion in enrollment, some 45 percent over the past 10 years.
The building offers new and enhanced amenities, including enrollment services, counseling, financial aid, testing and tutoring, a bookstore, cafeteria and new laboratories.
With this new expansion, the campus will now be able to offer two complete degrees. Students will be able to earn an associate in arts degree or an associate in science degree entirely from the Romeoville Campus.
In addition, a wider variety of courses will be offered in prime-time hours, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., as well as early evening courses and accelerated courses (eight weeks vs.16 weeks), as a new feature of the Romeoville campus.
The Romeoville expansion is part of the college’s master plan, which assesses the college’s space needs every five years as required by the Illinois Community College Board.
Construction began last fall on the new 50,000 square-foot building that is now the entrance of the campus, facing 135th Street, just off Weber Road. The original campus opened in 1993, with a 35,000 square-foot facility with 12 classrooms, 12 laboratories, library and administrative offices.
For more information about the Romeoville Campus, visit: http://www.jjc.edu/romeoville-campus/Pages/default.aspx