FORT LUPTON – Aims Community College is expanding, with plans for a new building and the addition of degree programs in agribusiness, agriculture and oil and gas at its Fort Lupton campus, a college official said Wednesday.

Aims has already begun enrolling students in the three, two-year programs for the fall semester, said Bob Kjelland, the college's director of external relations.

The new associate-degree offerings are part of an $8.5 million expansion in Fort Lupton. The college plans to build a 40,000-square-foot building for the programs that is scheduled to be completed in August 2013.
The degrees initially will be offered at both the Greeley and Fort Lupton campuses until the expansion is completed.


The college will fund the expansion from its capital budget.

"This is definitely a major investment," Kjelland said. "I think it speaks well to the belief that the gas and oil industry is going to continue to flourish in Northern Colorado for years to come."


Encana spokesman Doug Hock said the company, which drills natural gas wells in and around Erie, welcomed additional industry education in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, though it has not hired much recently because of low natural-gas prices.


Encana did not contribute to Aims' program, but it's not uncommon for companies to donate to colleges' oil and gas programs because they benefit from an educated workforce.

"It provides an opportunity for good, well-paying jobs that come right from that community where we're operating," Hock said.