Amarillo College making multimillion-dollar renovation, including new student service building

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Registering for college classes could be easier soon.

Renovations are taking place at Amarillo College to update the student service center.

Around 40 different renovations are taking place at Amarillo College thanks to a 2019 bond.

Part of those renovations include around eight million dollars being poured into moving the student service building to Russell Hall.

“Financial aid is up here. The registrar is over here. Advising is down here. So, it’s just a mix master of the departments of within that building and it’s not organized and that’s what were trying to do is organize it and get a flow going, so that they can do all of it at one time,” said Danny Smith, master plan program manager at Amarillo College.

Staff at Amarillo College says services many students utilize are spread out, making it difficult and confusing for students to get the help they need.

To help, all student services will be moved into a soon to be renovated and historic, Russell Hall.

“We’re taking the old gymnasiums. It’s got multiple levels of flooring in it. We’re going to level it out to one level of floor, so it’s all one nice level floor for everything,” said Smith.

Once a gym, now a dance studio and art department, the new home for student services plans to make getting help at Amarillo College easier.

“When you first come to a college, any college and you attempt to enroll, the ease of entry is so important, so valuable,” said Joe Wyatt, communications coordinator of Amarillo College.

Russell Hall which will hold student services such as financial aid, a testing center and transfer success was built back in the 1930′s.

“Everyone in the service area who takes advantage of Amarillo College will definitely benefit from the renovations we are going to make to this building,” said Wyatt.

Staff hopes this will make coming to college more convenient for many.

“A lot of our students are first generation students. This is the first time they’ve come. So, they can walk into this facility and get all the help they need. It’s already terrifying for them because they don’t know what they’re doing and it is a first time for them and no one else in their family has ever done it,” said Smith.

Smith, the master plan program manager of the renovation, says the design of this project is set to be completed in August or September of this year.

After that, construction will take about a year, making the tentative date of completion August or September of 2022.

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