Barton Community College is a comprehensive community college located in Central Kansas serving Rice, Rush, Ellsworth, Stafford, Pawnee, Ellis and Barton Counties. Students have the option of enrolling in face-to-face and online courses. The beautiful main campus sits on 160 acres atop a hill about two miles northeast of Great Bend. Barton also boasts the Camp Aldrich, which sits on 290 acres of rolling hills and grassland north of Cheyenne Bottoms.
As of academic year 2014-2015, approximately 17,000 students enrolled in Barton's educational offerings. Of these offerings, face-to-face and hybrid classes constitute 60% and online course offerings constitute 40% of the enrollments. The volume of hours taken by those students equates to about 4,500 full-time students. On campus housing is available for up to 330 students after completion of a recent housing facility project.
Barton offers traditional general education courses, athletics, fine and performing arts opportunities, a plethora of career and technical training offerings, GED courses, transfer options and online classes. Further, Barton is a leader in providing training to the military with service locations at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, which also impacts educational opportunity and offerings for residents of the Flints Hills region and Northeast Kansas.
Barton's full-service campus at Fort Riley, which celebrates its 31st year in 2015, emphasizes access to education for active military and their family members.
Barton's campus at Fort Leavenworth provides many of the common services available at Fort Riley. It has been operational since 2012 and has maintained steady substantial growth.
Barton is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and fulfills its mission to “improve the economic and social lives of individuals and their contributions to society.”
