Ashland Daily Independent

Money from sale of the property will benefit community college

Ashland Community and Technical College - which already has campuses off 13th Street in Ashland, on Robert Drive and in EastPark - has no intention of starting a fourth campus near the former Ashland Inc. headquarters in Russell.

But the sale of the seven acres of wooded hillside Ashland Inc. has donated to ACTC should help the college fund either with capital improvements or programs on one or more of its three campuses. The college plans to sell the property - appraised at $120,000 a year ago - and use the funds as Community & Technical College Foundation of Ashland Inc. sees fit.

The property - located across the street from the old headquarters building and behind Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital - is Ashland Inc.'s contribution to the college's major gifts campaign. While hilly, the property is in a prime area, and as the old saying goes, the three most important factors in real estate are location, location and location.

The hope is that the donation also will spur others to give to the campaign. While the community college for many years did little fund-raising, private funds have become increasingly important to the school as enrollment has increased and state funding has been flat. Since 2001, nearly $2 million has been donated to ACTC.

Skeptics may say that Ashland Inc. is simply getting a tax break for disposing of property for which it no longer has a use. While that's certainly true, the company could have sold the property and pocketed the income from that sale. Instead, it is using the land to benefit the community. For that, it is to be commended.